Provocative, innovative, maddening, and somewhat dangerous at the end of the 1970s, the wild, wild world of jishu eiga, or “autonomous film,” threw a molotov cocktail into the imploding Japanese film industry, which not only set blaze to the establishment but upended expectations along the way. With a combustible combination of youth and creativity, filmmakers such as Shinya Tsukamoto, Sogo Ishii, Masashi Yamamoto, and many of the most well-known talents working in Japanese cinema today burst onto the scene with irreverent, cheap 8mm films (hachimiri), the highlights of which will be showcased in this thrilling collection of 11 shorts and features from the PIA Film Festival in Tokyo, which first saw the potential of this fiery new wave and later became an exciting hub for talent looking to cause a ruckus.
Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies From The Punk Years
