Episode 19: Unveiling the World of Japanese Cinema: A Conversation With Japanese Filmmaker Hiroki Wakamatsu
In today's episode, we have a special guest joining us from Japan, the talented filmmaker Hiroki Wakamatsu. We dive deep into Hiroki's journey as a filmmaker, his recent world premiere at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival for his Sci-Fi film "Hakaniwa," and explore the fascinating world of Japanese cinema. We discuss his incredible film "Hakaniwa," a gripping story about a man's traumatic past, a brain experiment with an emotionally healing android, and the constant interplay between fantasy and reality.
Deeply thought-provoking and emotionally charged, this film takes us on a journey of self-discovery and overcoming one's inner demons. Throughout the episode, we'll touch on the unique challenges of shooting films in different locations, from the vast possibilities in the United States to the limited options in Japan. We'll also uncover the importance of making short films and the valuable lessons they teach us in preparation for feature films.
And, of course, we'll explore the power of pursuing our passions and the impact of creative activities in expressing our emotions. So join me on this captivating episode of "The Hollywood Dream" as we embark on a cinematic adventure with Hiroki Wakamatsu and delve into the magical world of filmmaking and storytelling.
Transcript
Please note: This transcript is auto-generated, so there may be spelling and grammar mistakes.
Johanny [00:00:00]:
Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Hollywood Dream podcast, a podcast where we talk to the people that are making film and TV all around the world. And in today's episode, I'm talking to Japanese filmmaker Hiroki Wakamatsu. Hiroki just had his world premiere at the Brooklyn Film Festival a couple of weeks ago where he premiered his Sci-Fi film, Hakaniwa. He agreed to do the podcast all the way from Japan. He's back in Japan. So we're meeting via the Riverside FM, which is a platform where I record the podcast, and we're going to talk about his journey as a filmmaker, his movie Hakaniwa, Japanese cinema, and so much more. So enjoy this episode with Hiroki Wakamatsu. How are you? And how is Japan?
Hiroki [00:01:09]:
Yeah, it's good. I'm safely back in Japan.
Johanny [00:01:15]:
What time is it over there?
Hiroki [00:01:17]:
It's 02:00.
Johanny [00:01:18]:
A.m. Oh, my God. Well, thank you so much for staying up.
Hiroki [00:01:24]:
Oh, no, thank you very much for having me.
Johanny [00:01:29]:
How was your experience at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival?
Hiroki [00:01:33]:
It was wonderful. Really? I really enjoyed a lot, and people are so kind and nice, and I am so impressed by other artists and filmmakers. And also.
Johanny [00:01:55]:
How was your like, I didn't go to your premiere because I had to work at my other job. But how was it seeing everybody's reaction to your film and just experiencing your film in a theater setting with people there?
Hiroki [00:02:13]:
Yeah, I think I was very I don't know, how can I say I was happy to hear what their thought of my film. I think I made a kind of very private film. I don't know, how can I say? It's very related to my own life.
Johanny [00:02:46]:
Your own personal experience.
Hiroki [00:02:48]:
Yes, exactly. So it was really good to hear what they thought of. I don't know. Sorry.
Johanny [00:03:04]:
That's okay.
Hiroki [00:03:05]:
Yeah.
Johanny [00:03:10]:
No, keep going. You can keep going.
Hiroki [00:03:13]:
Okay. Yeah. I think it was like looking back my life and when I was started study filmmaking, it was kind of late because it was my, like, 26. I was 26 when I was studying in filmmaking.
Johanny [00:03:48]:
That's not late. Yeah, that's still young.
Hiroki [00:03:55]:
Thank you. I felt very pressured because many people are starting very young.
Johanny [00:04:06]:
I started around the same time as you, around 25, 26.
Hiroki [00:04:11]:
Oh, nice. Yeah, that's good.
Johanny [00:04:15]:
But I study acting. First I was studying acting, and then I started writing and making films because acting wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.
Hiroki [00:04:30]:
Oh, interesting. So you like writing audience more?
Johanny [00:04:36]:
Yeah, I like writing and just kind of bringing the stories to life chapter.
Hiroki [00:04:44]:
Fantastic.
Johanny [00:04:47]:
I read that you have a background in education and psychology. What made you change professions and pursue a career in filmmaking?
Hiroki [00:05:02]:
Oh, when I was in university, I was studying education and psychology, but I was also joined to a club, like a filmmaking crowd.
Johanny [00:05:28]:
Okay.
Hiroki [00:05:30]:
I met filmmaking in the university, and it was such a fun experience. Good. It was very interesting to write stories and make it to Alive. I really wanted to pursue the career, so I decided to study filmmaking. And I decided to go to United States to study filmmaking.
Johanny [00:06:08]:
How was your experience at Chapman University? Right.
Hiroki [00:06:13]:
Yes, I went to Chapman University.
Johanny [00:06:15]:
How was that experience and attending that MFA program?
Hiroki [00:06:21]:
Oh, yeah. It was really great experience because I met a lot of people there and they had different backgrounds. I could learn from them a lot. And I also love to learn about American history, too. I think Japan doesn't have so much diversity compared to United States. So it was kind of shocking to me to learn so many people are living there and kind of fighting for the life. I am very impressed, and I got inspiration from them.
Johanny [00:07:30]:
Ever or do you have any interest in making films here in the States?
Hiroki [00:07:37]:
Yeah, I really want to make a film in the United States again, because they have a lot of people who has different backgrounds. And I want to tell the story with people with different background, I think. Very limited, detailed story with just Japanese. So I want to collaborate with lot of people from all over the world.
Johanny [00:08:19]:
Well, I hope you were able to exchange information with a lot of filmmakers at the Art of Brooklyn, so you have a network there that you could pull from.
Hiroki [00:08:29]:
Yeah. That's fantastic to meet people there. And I really want to collaborate with them.
Johanny [00:08:39]:
Yeah, I know. That's the beauty of going to film festivals. So you can meet people from all over the world and you can collaborate eventually sometime in the future.
Hiroki [00:08:53]:
Yeah. Great experience.
Johanny [00:08:59]:
How is the filmmaking scene in Japan? There's so many great Japanese films. Would you say that it's just as big as Hollywood? Or how is the scene there?
Hiroki [00:09:16]:
It's very different. I don't know. How can I say? It's very difficult to make film as an independent filmmakers in Japan because we don't have so much resource here.
Johanny [00:09:36]:
Okay.
Hiroki [00:09:38]:
Compared to United States. Because in the United States, they have a lot of studios, stage, and some warehouses, a lot of location which looks so beautiful and very cool. But in Japan, we don't have so much great places to shoot. I think for 40 notes, maybe, it looks very unique and very cool. But for Japanese, as I am Japanese, I want to shoot in more different locations.
Johanny [00:10:27]:
Yeah.
Hiroki [00:10:31]:
For example, I like Sci-Fi movies and fantasy movies.
Johanny [00:10:36]:
Yeah.
Hiroki [00:10:36]:
If I want to shoot the Sci-Fi and fantasy in Japan, it's very difficult because we don't have, like how can I stay very.
Johanny [00:10:52]:
Limited?
Hiroki [00:10:56]:
It's too clean. I don't know.
Johanny [00:11:00]:
In Japan, I think, like, it's not really rusty.
Hiroki [00:11:08]:
Yeah, right.
Johanny [00:11:10]:
It's very nice and beautiful.
Hiroki [00:11:16]:
So it's difficult to shoot in Japan, I think. I want to shoot Raspy places.
Johanny [00:11:29]:
Yeah. Well, you can come back to Brooklyn and shoot here?
Hiroki [00:11:34]:
Yes, I'm sorry.
Johanny [00:11:43]:
Oh, no. I was also reading that aside from crowdfunding you received help from the government to shoot your film Hakaniwa. What type of help does the government in Japan offer filmmakers?
Hiroki [00:12:01]:
I sought Hakuniwa during the COVID pandemic. We got a grant from government for support for support for artists during COVID Pandemic.
Johanny [00:12:27]:
So it's not a regular thing. That was just COVID.
Hiroki [00:12:31]:
Right.
Johanny [00:12:32]:
Okay.
Hiroki [00:12:33]:
So I think we don't have so much funding, government funding compared to Europe or Canada or any other places.
Johanny [00:12:48]:
Okay.
Hiroki [00:12:50]:
It's kind of difficult to get fundings.
Johanny [00:12:55]:
Okay. I thought it was like a regular thing.
Hiroki [00:12:59]:
No. For COVID pandemic.
Johanny [00:13:03]:
Well, that's still nice that they did that.
Hiroki [00:13:06]:
Yes, it helped me a lot. So I'm very grateful for the funding.
Johanny [00:13:14]:
Was it difficult to shoot during COVID over there?
Hiroki [00:13:20]:
I think so. It was very difficult because I need to be careful about actors and crews because if we have someone figure out COVID, the production need to be shut down and I am responsible for the shooting. It was kind of the beginning of the COVID Pandemic, so everybody was afraid of going out. And if we have a crowd meeting, people gonna attack us. Why they are meeting? It was very difficult time to I think.
Johanny [00:14:27]:
Yeah, I know. I was going to an MFA program during the Pandemic and we had to shoot our thesis during the Pandemic. And that was very difficult. It was a nightmare.
Hiroki [00:14:43]:
Oh my gosh. Must be tough.
Johanny [00:14:46]:
Yeah, it was very so your film has a very intriguing and interesting concept connecting your brainwaves to an AI to find healing. What made you explore that idea and tell that specific story? And what type of message were you trying to convey to audiences that see Takaniwa?
Hiroki [00:15:17]:
That's a really good question. I think when I was writing about the concept, the story of Takoniwa, I think there was like the AI and metabolism was very cutting edge technology. So I really wanted to cooperate with the technology and the stories. So I don't know. And I thought it could be interesting to write a story about some like how can I say I don't know AI.
Johanny [00:16:22]:
I know. Because that's very popular now with Chat GPT and all this AI technology happening around us.
Hiroki [00:16:30]:
Right? Yeah. But I also thought AI has also limitation. AI doesn't have an emotion, but human does. So I want to explore more about the concept of human has emotion, but AI doesn't. So what we could do as a human beings for future and what AI could do for the future so we can separate things. And also we need to live together, I think, because AI going to be very important part of our life in the future, I think.
Johanny [00:17:33]:
I know it's becoming to be now.
Hiroki [00:17:37]:
Yeah, I think so. I really want to imagine what we going to do if we have AI next to us. And emotion was a key for me for the story and sympathy and empathy type of thing. Connection. It's people I'm like talking very randomly, but no, I understand.
Johanny [00:18:21]:
You're making sense. You're making sense.
Hiroki [00:18:28]:
I think during the COVID I think people need to stay away from each other, right?
Johanny [00:18:35]:
Yeah.
Hiroki [00:18:36]:
Because so we we won't have a connection, emotional connection between us, even. We have we need to be separated. So I also wanted to tell the story about emotional connections.
Johanny [00:19:05]:
Will you say that your background, like, in psychology kind of influenced the story that you were trying to tell and just influenced your filmmaking in general?
Hiroki [00:19:16]:
I think so. Influencing a lot and yeah. I always tend to think about psychology behind the conversation or, like, human life. So it was good to study psychology, I think. Yeah, for me.
Johanny [00:19:53]:
And this is your second Sci-Fi?
Hiroki [00:19:58]:
Yeah, sort of. I made a Sci-Fi short for my thesis.
Johanny [00:20:04]:
And then this is your first feature film, right?
Hiroki [00:20:08]:
It's my first feature film.
Johanny [00:20:12]:
How was your experience working for doing the short film? And how did that shape you as a filmmaker and prepare you to make this feature? And what lessons did you learn from doing the short that you brought with you to better your skills with Hakaniwa? Was that too much?
Hiroki [00:20:40]:
That's a really good question. I think making short is very good practice for feature film, but yeah, I think I really want to make short films again because feature film is very difficult to make. Lot of think to prepare. Yeah. So compared to short films, feature film was monster. I couldn't imagine how far to make a feature film, but making shorter films helps me to how to prepare for shooting and also how to do how to make how to write a film. Like a short film, we need to make a story very concisely. So we need to have a very strong story to tell. Right. So it was very great practice to make story very strong. I think I really want to do more short films again before the short film. Jeffrey. Yes. Shoot films are fun and very.
Johanny [00:22:39]:
Is there a particular story that you have in your head that you would like to tell as a short film?
Hiroki [00:22:46]:
I think I really want to make films also. I want to make film with some accent, like fighting scene.
Johanny [00:23:01]:
Oh, that would be fun.
Hiroki [00:23:03]:
Yeah. I think I want to make something fun for next time. Some more entertaining films.
Johanny [00:23:16]:
Yeah. How long was the production for Hakaniwa?
Hiroki [00:23:25]:
It took over two years.
Johanny [00:23:30]:
Two years?
Hiroki [00:23:33]:
It took so long.
Johanny [00:23:35]:
Yeah.
Hiroki [00:23:37]:
I think one year for pre production and one year for post production.
Johanny [00:23:44]:
Okay.
Hiroki [00:23:45]:
And it's like a never ending project.
Johanny [00:23:55]:
Are there any memorable moments or challenging moments from the production that were unexpected or surprising that kind of helped the film? Or maybe some stressful moments that you had to power it through? Yeah, the whole thing.
Hiroki [00:24:15]:
Yeah, whole thing. Exactly. Yeah, I think it was my first feature. It was my first time to shoot in Japan too. So the gathering crews and casts are very stressful because I didn't have any connection before. So I needed to do from just scratch. It took a long time to know each other. I think maybe next time I gonna do better because I have more connections and I know people more.
Johanny [00:25:09]:
Yeah. I love Japanese films. So are there any films that you can recommend to watch? Some of your favorites?
Hiroki [00:25:31]:
So you like live action or you like anime?
Johanny [00:25:36]:
I like horror films.
Hiroki [00:25:38]:
Horror films, yeah.
Johanny [00:25:43]:
Japan is really good with horror, I think.
Hiroki [00:25:47]:
Yeah, Japanese horror is very scary, I think.
Johanny [00:25:51]:
Yeah.
Hiroki [00:25:54]:
I think you already have seen like a Juan or how can I say I need to start English title, I think. Let me start garage.
Johanny [00:26:20]:
Oh, the garage. Yeah, I've seen that one. Yeah. And I saw The Ring, which is based on the film.
Hiroki [00:26:33]:
Right, right. Ring.
Johanny [00:26:35]:
It's very and then I recently saw one on Netflix about a group of school children who keep reliving their same day over and over and they keep dying. I forgot the name of it. I forgot the name of it. But no, I like those type of films. I feel like Japanese is really good. Will you ever be interested in doing horror?
Hiroki [00:27:10]:
Yeah, maybe some days I think I want to do horror, maybe. I think it's very good for independent filmmaker to make horror films. I think we can limit the location too for horror film. So yeah, I think it's good. I need to think of the story of horror. Let's do that.
Johanny [00:27:54]:
Yeah, horror is pretty hard, I feel like, to do.
Hiroki [00:27:56]:
Yeah, I think so.
Johanny [00:28:01]:
I think we kind of just jumped and started talking about your film. Can you give a brief synopsis of what Hakaniwa is? Because I think we just started talking about it, but we never really said what it was. Can you share what Hakaniwa is?
Hiroki [00:28:21]:
Okay. Hakuniwa is about a guy who has traumatic childhood memories who joins to brain experiment with AI android and she is emotionally healing android. So he tried to connect his brain waves with emotional heating android. But as a study going on, he start to mix his fantasy world and reality world and going back and forth from his past experience and present experience. So try to get out from his situation and try to face with his real problem in.
Johanny [00:29:50]:
And what do you hope audience take away from watching the film?
Hiroki [00:29:59]:
I think my theme is emotional connection with others and also loneliness and fighting with fear to connect with people. So I hope people going to think we are not alone.
Johanny [00:30:28]:
Yeah.
Hiroki [00:30:29]:
So we can connect each other and we can help each other and understand each other more and make better world.
Johanny [00:30:43]:
Yeah.
Hiroki [00:30:46]:
So I hope.
Johanny [00:30:50]:
I know I really enjoy the film. I rewatched it so it could refresh in my memory to speak to you. So I thought you did a great job with it, and I really I'm glad that you won Best Drama.
Hiroki [00:31:07]:
Thank you very much. Yes. I was so happy. I'm so grateful for the award. Made me so memorable experience. Yeah, it means a lot.
Johanny [00:31:29]:
I usually do a segment for the podcast. I just named it today. Fast and curious. So it's just a bunch of questions about you, and you have two minutes to answer as many questions as you can. Will you be up for it?
Hiroki [00:31:48]:
Wow. Okay, let me try.
Johanny [00:31:52]:
Let me set the timer. Hold on. Let me set a timer. So you have two minutes to answer as many questions as you can. I'm starting the clock now.
Hiroki [00:32:07]:
Wow.
Johanny [00:32:08]:
What is your favorite hobby?
Hiroki [00:32:11]:
Listening to music.
Johanny [00:32:15]:
What is your favorite type of music?
Hiroki [00:32:19]:
I don't know. Maybe R and B or J Pop.
Johanny [00:32:25]:
Okay. What's your favorite movie of all times?
Hiroki [00:32:31]:
That's difficult. Seven.
Johanny [00:32:35]:
And what is the most unique place you've ever visited?
Hiroki [00:32:39]:
Oh, I went to South Africa. Cape.
Johanny [00:32:47]:
Nice. What's the most exciting thing you've ever done?
Hiroki [00:32:57]:
I don't know. I went to United States. I don't know.
Johanny [00:33:10]:
That's exciting. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Hiroki [00:33:14]:
Night person.
Johanny [00:33:18]:
What is your favorite thing to do on the weekends?
Hiroki [00:33:23]:
Sleeping cafe.
Johanny [00:33:28]:
How many countries have you been to?
Hiroki [00:33:36]:
I think five.
Johanny [00:33:39]:
What's the name of the first movie you saw in a theater?
Hiroki [00:33:45]:
Five. No, I can't remember, but I think dry moon. It's Japanese anime.
Johanny [00:33:55]:
Okay. What's the worst trip you've ever taken?
Hiroki [00:34:00]:
Trip?
Johanny [00:34:02]:
The worst one. The worst trip?
Hiroki [00:34:06]:
I don't know. Worst trip.
Johanny [00:34:12]:
I'll give it to you if you still answer.
Hiroki [00:34:15]:
Okay. I don't know. I didn't research about bus in Harrisburg.
Johanny [00:34:28]:
Okay.
Hiroki [00:34:30]:
And I missed a bus, and I walked to a place that I took English exam. I was so exhausted.
Johanny [00:34:49]:
You answer ten questions. That was good. The most someone answered was 20. So you were halfway.
Hiroki [00:35:03]:
So quick.
Johanny [00:35:06]:
I know he was fast. And my last question for you, since you went from a different profession, you went from psychology and education, and you jumped into film. Do you have any advice for anyone who is working a regular job now and wants to make the jump to a creative field and is afraid to do so? Is there any advice that you could share from your own experience?
Hiroki [00:35:38]:
Wow, that's a good question. Yeah. I said earlier it was too late to study filmmaking, but never be too late. So just follow your heart and just creating something, what you like to do. Just jump into the path you want to take. It's what I want to say. I think and tiniest thing is good start. I think just like, drawing or, like, making music or playing guitar or anything creative can help you to express your emotions or.
Johanny [00:36:48]:
Just I agree.
Hiroki [00:36:50]:
Yeah.
Johanny [00:36:51]:
All you have to do is start.
Hiroki [00:36:53]:
Yes.
Johanny [00:36:55]:
Well, thank you so much. Hiroki. I know it's 02:00 a.m. Over there, so I'm really grateful that you stayed up to talk to me.
Hiroki [00:37:03]:
Thank you very much for having me. It was very great talking with you.
Johanny [00:37:09]:
Yeah, same here's.
