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| "DAWN" Newsletter of The
DAWN CENTER |
< Interview >
Japanese women's average life expectancy is seven years longer than
that of men. Therefore, a lot of women live alone after their husband's
death. The film "Lily Festival" is situated in an apartment
house in the suburbs where these widows are living.
The story is: |
 |
| After one of the residents died suddenly, a man,
a professed widower, moved into the apartment house. He is neither
dominating nor oppressive, rare among Japanese men. Instead of lumping
all the residents together as "old ladies," he deals with
each of them as an individual and takes care of them delicately.
While socializing with him, the women begin to open the door of
sexuality they have concealed. |
Film"Erotica" by women for women
Sachi Hamano, movie director |
|
"Lily Festival" is the first film revealing
older women's sexuality strictly and humorously. It has been shown
at Gender Equality Centers in various parts of Japan and received
great applause. Showings at commercial theaters began in the of
summer of 2003. It has been well received abroad, winning the semi-Grand
Prix at the Turin International Women's Film Festival in 2002, and
has been invited to participate in more than 20 film festivals all
over the world.
The director and independent producer of this movie is Ms. Sachi
Hamano, who has been filming more than 300 movies as a director
of "pink-eiga," or blue movies.
"On reading the original, I was convinced that it is only I
that can picture this, because I have long been describing women's
sexuality," Hamano says. She has enjoyed movies since her girlhood,
but she had doubts about the stereotyped women's figures as "mothers,
wives daughters, and prostitutes." She decided her course was
to make movies that presented real women. But at that time, only
male graduates were accepted into movie companies. She was a college
graduate but not male. Only a pink movie company recruited female
staff at the time because of shortage of personnel, so she began
her career there.
"In pink movies made by males, only convenient women appear
who suit men's sexual illusions. I don't shoot rapes. I don't make
children the target of sex. I don't make movies to suit men's desires.
Along with these three decisions, I have been filming works in which
women experience love-making as their own choice."
The main viewers of pink movies are men. The fact that Ms. Hamano
has made more than 300 movies shows their acceptance by a male audience.
She analyzes the reason.
"In my movies, soft and delicate women's bodies are shown gorgeously
at close-up. In some scenes a women caresses her beloved man carefully.
As I can proceed filming in good communication with the actresses,
they also can act freshly. I'm sure that male audiences would like
to see beautiful and lively women's bodies and sex scenes instead
of stereo-typed descriptions of 'bound, raped and suffering women
soon feeling ecstasy.' My works contains the message that gender-role
of 'manliness' or 'Men should please women' should be thrown away."
"Lily Festival" betrays the incidental discovery of women's
fight around a man and has a happy ending.
Ms. Hamano's theme is sex and gender. Her next work will be "Yasyaou,"
a "super-gender" person's stormy life, set in the period
of Incessant Civil War. She plans to cast a woman pro-wrestler as
the hero (heroine?).
Independent film production requires large sums of money. Hopefully,
the world-wide success of "Lily Festival" points to similar
triumph in the directors future movies. |
| (Interviewed by Haneko Inoue) |
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