Rare Japanese animation comes to Toronto care of LIFT and Tomonari Nishikawa

by Chris MaGee

It was a couple weeks back that we reported on how experimental film-maker Tomonari Nishikawa was here in Toronto as a film-maker-in-residence at LIFT, The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto. Since arriving here in the city earlier this month Nishikawa has been teaching classes at LIFT, working on film projects and has been running a series of screenings. On July 18th Nishikawa presented a programme of hand-processed 16mm films at The Gladstone Hotel’s Art Bar, and now there is news from LIFT of yet another do-not-miss event for those with a love for the cinematic avant-garde.

On August 5th at CineCycle (alley behind 129 Spadina Avenue) Tomonari Nishikawa and LIFT will be presenting "Tension vs. Mediation: Contemporary Japanese Animation". This programme will bring together works by art animators/ film-makers Shiho Kano, Kazuhiro Goshima, Aki Nakazawa, Yuta Takehiro, Hirotoshi Iwasaki, Yusuke Nakajima, Chikara Matsumoto (above) and Kotaro Tanaka. Like the july 18th programme, this is a collection of films that rarely if ever get shown in North America, let alone Canada so get out to CineCycle and feast your eyes.

For more information on "Tension vs. Mediation: Contemporary Japanese Animation" curated by Tomonari Nishikawa and presented by LIFT just click here.