HINAMI XPERIMENTAL FILM LAB

CONCEPT:XPERIMENTAL MOVIES THAT MOVE YOU

“Hinami Xperimental Film Lab” is a project that conceives, plans and produces projects that explore the potential of filmmaking as an art form. We believe that a truly experimental film is not only innovative in terms of cinematic technique but also by the way the audience responds and the degree to which they are moved. Hinami experimental films don’t experiment just for the sake of impressing cinema fans. Rather, we strive to create truly innovative-and-moving cinematic art, despite the massive challenges that entails. The project name, “Hinami,” meaning “every day” in Japanese, refers to the fact that we endeavor to make the highest standard creative films every single day.

Thanks to the advent and advancement of digital technology, filmmaking has become more accessible than ever. Since its establishment in 2005, “Hinami Xperimental Film Lab” has produced over 40 features, and has become even more prolific in recent years, making as many as six features a year. The experimental films that have been made so far include: a fixed-point-observation film, an extreme closed room play in a tiny room, a one man play, an actor-less play, and a cryptographic play.

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/WRITER:Yuichi Kurokawa

OUTLINES

  1. Existence and Non-Existence（2009）

    A one location play in which the protagonist comes to a place over and over again, not knowing what’s going on or what he wants to do. He encounters three mysterious persons there. One strange-looking man, one strange-looking woman, and one seemingly normal-looking girl.

  2. Reverberation（2010）

    An actor-less play in which the invisible protagonist searches for the most beautiful thing in the world because he is diagnosed with an incurable disease and knows that his days are numbered.

  3. Escape（2011）

    An actor-less play, a kind of sequel of “Reverberation.” The invisible protagonist comes to a hill, and, for some unknown reason, finds himself unable to get out. Circumambulating the area brings him the realization he is seeking.

  4. Turnaround（2012）

    An closed room play in which 5 persons are called out to an abandoned building, but none of them knows why. As they talk, they come to realize that all of them are connected to a well-known abominable crime that occurred years before.

  5. Spiral（2013）

    An extreme closed room play in a tiny room in which a virus causes a strange phenomenon. When people get infected, they start losing language ability, word by word. Years pass until people have only a handful of words left.

  6. Seasons（2014）

    The entire film consists only of wide shots. The protagonist, a lonesome kid, can see an invisible monster called “Moko,” while nobody else seems able to see it. The kid befriends the monster and they play together every day, until a shocking event occurs all of a sudden.

  7. Chase（2015）

    A point of view movie in which the protagonist (the camera) is looking for his mother who vanished some years ago. In the process of searching, he encounters a great variety of people, each and every one of whom teaches him something important.

  8. Dynamic Static（2015）

    A fixed-point-observation film shot entirely in the precincts of a Shinto shrine where several people, all of whom are total strangers, come and pray for various reasons. Eventually, their paths cross as if the mystical power of the shrine directed and connected their destinies.

  9. Symmetrical（2016）

    The protagonist, a young woman, finds herself in the endless loop of a nightmare. Whenever she wakes up, she finds herself in yet another nightmare. This process not only continues infinitely but also incrementally worsens as the story unfolds.

  10. Infinite（2017）

    A cryptographic play in which the protagonist, a skilled detective, tries to decipher a mysterious code. Intrigue ensues due to the fact that the code is so multi-layered that it can be interpreted many ways, each of which seems convincing.

  11. Drift（2018）

    An elderly medical doctor is locked in the memory of his adopted son who died very young of heart attack in the recent past. The old man feels responsible and struggles with regret, but not due to the fact that he, as a doctor, failed to save his son’s life. The old doctor’s regret is borne of an entirely different reason.

  12. Departure（2019）

    A point-of-view movie in which a young girl starts down a dark path and her life goes downhill every step of the way. The camera is supposed to be from her boyfriend’s point of view, and she talks directly to the camera. The boyfriend suffers from a progressive disease, and the girl acts as if it is her fault, even though the audience initially has no clue as to why she acts that way.

  13. Truth（2019）

    A YouTube movie in which a guy, an unpopular YouTuber, is obsessed with conspiracy theories. His obsession causes him to see the world in an extremely distorted way, until he ends up confronting a mysterious faceless man who he becomes convinced has been sent from a secret society.

  14. Convict（2019）

    A parody of “Usual Suspects,” in which a retired detective is called out by a mysterious suspect. Apparently, the suspect wants something from the ex-detective, but he doesn’t tell him what. For unknown reasons, the suspect not only talks a lot about “Usual Suspects” until it is revealed that the crime he allegedly committed is very much like the crimes in the movie.

  15. Reality（2020）

    An experimental film starring an “air-actor.” The audience sees only two characters, Detective Horikawa and Detective Baba, on the screen, but there are supposed to be many more characters, judging from the way the two characters act. These two detectives are buddies, who have been chasing a serial killer who has killed 11 policemen for 3 years.

  16. Transience（2020）

    A silent slow-motion movie in which the paths of 7 characters cross. One Sunday, two kids sneak into a factory to play. The factory is not in operation, so the building is empty except for these two kids. However, all of a sudden, 5 adults rush in one after another: 2 detectives, 2 killers, and 1 strange-looking man. The strange-looking man has a briefcase with mysterious contents that indicate great significance.

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