Southeast Asian Music and Performing Arts Documentaries Screened at TUFS

September 4, 2019

On Wednesday the 26th and Saturday the 29th of June, and Saturday the 6th of July, TUFS Cinema held their Southeast Asian Music and Performing Arts Documentary Film Festival in AGORA Global’s Prometheus Hall.

This event was held as part of the adult-aimed TUFS Open Academy’s “Knowing Southeast Asian Music and Performing Arts” course, and was organized by the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa’s Assistant Professor YOSHIDA Yukako. Documentaries on Balinese dance, traditional Burmese music and Malaysian shadow plays were screened, and a talk session by either the director or a specialist was held after each screening. Attendees left many comments such as “It was helpful to hear about the story behind recording traditional performing arts form the director”, “It was interesting as they also explained what didn’t make it into the film” and “I enjoyed the detailed commentary on culture, ethnos and politics.”
The festival’s schedule was as follows:

○　Wednesday 26th of June, 1st screening “Taksu – Tamashī no Odoriko”
Talk Session: NITTA Miho (director, TUFS Open Academy lecturer), Assistant Professor YOSHIDA Yukako (Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa)

○　Saturday 29th of June, 2nd screening, “Chaw Min Gakudan ga Iku”
Talk Session: ISHITANI Takashi (director, music documentary filmmaker), Assistant Professor YOSHIDA Yukako

○　Saturday 6th of July, third screening, “World Without Shadow”
Talk Session: TOGARI Yasuko (TUFS part-time lecturer)

TUFS Open Academy intends to hold the “Knowing Southeast Asian Music and Performing Arts” course once again as a fall quarter course (venue: Aoyama Gakuin University, Shibuya, 12 week course). More information on this course can be found here (Japanese only).