Kyoko Miyake explores issues of gender and power dynamics in Japanese pop culture with her new documentary Tokyo Idols. Her film focuses on Ri Ri, an aspiring pop singer, and the adult male super-fans who surround her. Miyake hired doc editor Anna Price to help shape her hours of footage into a coherent statement on a unique (and, to many, unsavory) cultural phenomenon. Price spoke with Filmmaker about the project prior to its premiere in the doc competition at Sundance 2017. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 27, 2017During its development, production or eventual distribution, what specific challenge of communication did, or will your film, face? How did you deal with it, or how are you planning to deal with it? Tokyo Idols explores a cultural phenomenon driven by an obsession with young female sexuality, and the growing disconnect between men and women in hyper-modern societies. The idol singers are predominantly teenage girls, and their fans are mostly middle aged men. At the beginning, I was reluctant to talk to the fans as I struggled to empathize with them. For me, they were “on the other side” not only […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2017