ICA is closed from the 30 May – 3 June inclusive.
22 - 27 October
Starting as a violinist, Maiko Endo began making films with no formal training after living in New York City, developing a distinct and sensorially effective cinema. Visually and aurally rousing, she resolutely defies documentary or fiction labels, sculpting narratives defined by intuition over traditional narrative logic. While awarded festival prizes, and revered by her peers - Josh Safdie says she is “from another planet,” and Sean Price Williams declared Kuichisan his favourite film he’s lensed - Endo’s work remains woefully underseen.
Operating as director, writer, editor and producer - occasionally, cinematographer, composer - she has made two features, one mid-length and one short, all restlessly summoning cross-cultural, dystopian visions of cities, its inhabitants and technology.
Deemed “the discovery of the year” at CPX:DOX and winner of the Best World Documentary award at Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival 2011, Kuichisan is one of cinema’s most visceral debuts. Set in Okinawa, home to a US military base, it is unafraid to forfeit the accustomed narrative criteria, offering a visually stimulating portrait of a young boy discovering the Japanese island’s myths, history and an uncertain present, driven by pulsating rhythms.
Endo continued honing this free-form rush of audiovisual sensations with their second feature Technology (2016), shot in India and Iceland. A touch more fantastical than its predecessor, the same concerns collide, including our increasing reliance on scientific devices.
Recent mid-length and short, Tokyo Telepath 2020 (2020) and Jizai (2024) are equally mesmeric depictions of our world and beyond’s mayhem. We are delighted to host the UK premiere of both films as part of this In Focus, providing audiences a rare opportunity to get lost in Maiko Endo’s peerless universe.
Presented in partnership with filmmaker and photographer Keifer Nyron Taylor & Japan Foundation, London
Starting as a violinist, Maiko Endo began making films with no formal training after living in New York City, developing a distinct and sensorially effective cinema. Visually and aurally rousing, she resolutely defies documentary or fiction labels, sculpting narratives defined by intuition over traditional narrative logic. While awarded festival prizes, and revered by her peers - Josh Safdie says she is “from another planet,” and Sean Price Williams declared Kuichisan his favourite film he’s lensed - Endo’s work remains woefully underseen.
Operating as director, writer, editor and producer - occasionally, cinematographer, composer - she has made two features, one mid-length and one short, all restlessly summoning cross-cultural, dystopian visions of cities, its inhabitants and technology.
Deemed “the discovery of the year” at CPX:DOX and winner of the Best World Documentary award at Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival 2011, Kuichisan is one of cinema’s most visceral debuts. Set in Okinawa, home to a US military base, it is unafraid to forfeit the accustomed narrative criteria, offering a visually stimulating portrait of a young boy discovering the Japanese island’s myths, history and an uncertain present, driven by pulsating rhythms.
Endo continued honing this free-form rush of audiovisual sensations with their second feature Technology (2016), shot in India and Iceland. A touch more fantastical than its predecessor, the same concerns collide, including our increasing reliance on scientific devices.
Recent mid-length and short, Tokyo Telepath 2020 (2020) and Jizai (2024) are equally mesmeric depictions of our world and beyond’s mayhem. We are delighted to host the UK premiere of both films as part of this In Focus, providing audiences a rare opportunity to get lost in Maiko Endo’s peerless universe.
Presented in partnership with filmmaker and photographer Keifer Nyron Taylor & Japan Foundation, London
Kuichisan will also be screening on 35mm at CCA, Glasgow as a part of Inclinations Film Club.
Programme
Tue 22 October, 6.30pm
Additional screening on 27 October
Kuichisan on 35mm + Q&A
Declared by cinematographer Sean Price Williams as his favourite film he has worked on, this beautiful rush of 16mm black & white and colour follows a young boy’s day-dream wanderings across Okinawa, a Japanese island formerly home to a US military base.
Sat 26 October, 2.40pm
Technology
Shot in India and Iceland, Technology follows the journey of SHE, THE DRAGON CHASER and LOVERBOY. SHE (Bobbi Salvör Menuez), an animalistic child from the moon, is kidnapped by a divine, invisible force.
Sun 27 October, 6pm
UK PREMIERE
Tokyo Telepath 2020 + Jizai
A retro-furtuirst Tokyo has become a giant building site in the run-up to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Behind the ambitious buildings’ facades, an even more far-reaching transformation is unfolding: the city is being digitised, inhabitants and all. Preceded by the UK premiere of Maiko Endo's captivating short film Jizai, which is a fictionalised documentation of
the Inami Jizai Body Project, an academic research initiative exploring the potential of body augmentation.
Tue 22 October, 6.30pm
Additional screening on 27 October
Kuichisan on 35mm + Q&A
Declared by cinematographer Sean Price Williams as his favourite film he has worked on, this beautiful rush of 16mm black & white and colour follows a young boy’s day-dream wanderings across Okinawa, a Japanese island formerly home to a US military base.
Sat 26 October, 2.40pm
Technology
Shot in India and Iceland, Technology follows the journey of SHE, THE DRAGON CHASER and LOVERBOY. SHE (Bobbi Salvör Menuez), an animalistic child from the moon, is kidnapped by a divine, invisible force.
Sun 27 October, 6pm
UK PREMIERE
Tokyo Telepath 2020 + Jizai
A retro-furtuirst Tokyo has become a giant building site in the run-up to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Behind the ambitious buildings’ facades, an even more far-reaching transformation is unfolding: the city is being digitised, inhabitants and all. Preceded by the UK premiere of Maiko Endo's captivating short film Jizai, which is a fictionalised documentation of
the Inami Jizai Body Project, an academic research initiative exploring the potential of body augmentation.
no. 236848.