Young director Akihiko Shiota gripped and thrilled movie audiences worldwide with his 1999 debut, Moonlight Whispers, a disturbing account of teen S/M love in a Japanese small town. This debut competed at Locarno and was followed in 2000 by Don't Look Back, the bittersweet tale of two kids growing up in the Tokyo suburbs. For his third, which belongs to the Love/Cinema series, Akihiko Shiota took a digital video camera and went back to his first love: characters with extreme, unflinching desires and passions. "I like characters who cannot control their impulses, their temptations, their inner demons" says Akihiko Shiota. His third film, Gips (meaning "plaster cast"), explores fetishism, lesbianism and sadomasochism between two young women caught in a sinister game of manipulation. First shown at Tokyo Filmex 2000, Gips is being screened in the Video Competition of Locarno 2001; Shiota's new film, Harmful Insect, competed for a Lion at Venice 2001 and currently in competition at 3 Continents.

What made you want to be a director?

I have been interested in cinema since I was 10. So I think it was a very natural thing for me to become a director. After entering university, I became friends with Kiyoshi Kurosawa and other movie-lovers. We were really a whole bunch of friends with a common passion for the movies. I remember talking a lot about Jean Luc Godard's movies with Mr Kurosawa. Then, with the same group, I began to make independent Super 8 films.

Would you consider Mr. Kurosawa as a kind of mentor?

Well, I have never consciously mimicked his work but I've been often told that my films resemble his. It's true that Mr Kurosawa is older than I, so I guess thatI must must have been influenced by him in one way or another.

You've been his assistant director on two films, including Cure. What did you learn from these experiences?

I think I'm like Mr. Kurosawa in the sense that we're both able to make commercial films without losing our identity, our independence. Mr. Kurosawa is able to make high-quality, deeply personal films even with the lowest budgets. And if money's there, it doesn't alter his integrity in any way! He just remains his usual self. Also, we both love American genre movies, but in Japan it's very hard to make that kind of film. Even though I try, I usually end up making totally different films! I think this is something else that Mr. Kurosawa and I have in common! (laughs)

Do you feel drawn more to independent films than commercial films?

Well, I think the 50's and 60's were excellent years to make movies in Japan. The 60's saw the birth of the New Wave with directors such as Nagisa Oshima. My generation began making movies in the 80's, which was the worst period ever. What we certainly did was try to react against the slump around us and make new, challenging films. I felt myself like a revolutionist and wanted to change everything in Japanese cinema! Maybe Mr.Kurosawa, Mr. Aoyama and I should set up a revolutionary group! (laughs)

But in spite of all this, I feel that I do abide by a certain line of Japanese cinema. But at the same time, I try to take on new subjects. With Moonlight Whispers, for example, I told a story of sado masochism between two adolescents, and I feel I brought a certain kind of independent spirit to what was otherwise a studio-bound production [the film was produced by Nikkatsu].

Tell us more about The Nude Woman. This pinku eiga [erotic film] certainly has a strange subject as well!

The Nude Woman was shot on video in only 5 days! I wanted to shoot it with film but the producers said: 'We'll produce it only if you shoot it on video.' This film tells the story of a married woman who meets an exhibitionist woman and ends up being an exhibitionist, too! But this is not the core matter of the film. For me, it is first and foremost the story of people who cannot control their impulses, their temptations, their inner demons. That's the kind of characters I like!

Do you usually write scripts alone?

Well, with The Nude Woman, for example, I wrote the first draft of the script alone, then reworked it with Hiroshi Takahashi [scriptwriter of The Ring]. We then looked for producers together.

You're also a film teacher like your friend Kiyoshi Kurosawa. What do you try to teach to your students?

Well, I'm all at once a scriptwriter, a DP, a director and an editor. I can cope with everything when I make a film. So I try to teach the whole thing to my students. I would like them to be very versatile directors as well.

Don't Look Back was financed by the University of Tokyo and shot with a mainly student staff. For what purpose was it made this way?

There were two goals in making this film: first, make a film with and for the students and second, try to find a theatrical release for it. According to that, Don't Look Back was made with students of the university, like the later Barren Illusions by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The cameraman and sound engineer were both professionals, but all the other jobs were allotted to students.

How did you find the young actors of the film?

Through many auditions - I must have auditioned at least 100 children, professionals or amateurs. I finally chose amateurs. In Japan, many people thought the school scenes were a documentary.

You chose quite a military soundtrack for the boys' play scenes...

I show children who, even though they've not been through the war, behave as real little soldiers. But they're not different from the children of their age, who are influenced by television, games and films. Early on in the film, the music is rather farcical, but after the death of one of the characters, it takes on darker tones.

Don't Look Back gives the feeling there's not much communication between children and parents...

The first thing I wanted to describe with this film was the maturation of a child. In society, there are two worlds at variance: that of children and that of adults. And the adult world can sometimes be a violent one for children - that's the second theme of the movie.

Don't you think the world of children gives a full hint of the adult world?

When we look at the world of children, we go back to our roots. But everyone does it in one's own way, thus not one spectator will have the same reactions as another with this film. I think life is a never ending fight against our faults, our regrets, and this implies our childhood. We often make the same mistakes, but through this process, we can learn more about ourselves and improve ourselves. But above all, I think we should always look ahead and keep coping with life as best we can.

Yet, with this film, I feel you do tell us: "Take some time to look back, to remember..."

Maybe you're right... (thoughtfully) So look back... but... Don't look back too much! (laughs) The Japanese title of the film means: "Let's go as far as possible." Which is impossible, of course. It's just a metaphor, an invitation for everyone to ponder on one's own life, one's own journey.

What do you want to convey with the shots of the boys watching the city from above?

Two things: that a city can be beautiful depending on the angle from which you look at it, and, at the same time, the pettiness of our lives.

I remember Kiyoshi Kurosawa saying, as an allusion to his film Barren Illusions, that the absence of horizon in big cities like Tokyo meant, as a metaphor, the lack of perspective of the future...

Well, I must say I agree with Mr Kurosawa...I think that's one more point we have in common! (laughs)

Robin Gatto Translation: Hitomi Kosaka