The marvelous Achilles of Barry Purves. I love his dramatic flow, his editing, his courage to make a homosexual film--I find that most men don't dare make films treating their personal problems--a domain that until now has been reserved for woman--they say that women's films speak above all about their bodies. Now men are no longer embarrassed to speak about themselves--a beneficial effect from feminists.

In general, the audience reacts well this evening, if less warmly than this afternoon; they are mostly satisfied with the selection. Except for a person who starts to pursue me because a film that he produced isn't "in," although it should have been. Of course, there are always some discontented people that make it known. Sayoko, the festival director, knows all about that.

After the screening a party, at which we are greeted by a concert of Japanese drums--impressive, it goes back to the dance of ancient times, to rituals. At the end of the performance, a cask of sake is opened. David Ehrlich and Raoul Servais do the honors, after speeches, translations, etc. ... Gigantic buffet, with tons of sushi and other unimaginable delicacies. The party is over at midnight. There, at Hiroshima, parties officially end at 11 or midnight.

Joy Streetby Suzan Lee Pitt. Courtesy of Hiroshima 96.

Friday, August 23
First a coffee! Everyone gathers at the festival hall. In fact it's a hotel with two screening rooms, several meeting rooms and a restaurant. One could practically live at the Aster Plaza without needing to go out. Everything happens in the hall: the meetings, the discussions, the photos and interviews. Unlike Annecy, which is overtaken by gigantism, here it is possible to meet everyone. The competition screenings take place at the end of every afternoon at 6:30. During the day, a lot of special programs. At 9:15, the first of our ASIFA workshops, "Animation by Children Throughout the World." The press is there, lots of children, and a very good audience for that hour of the morning. Sayoko makes the usual introductions.

"The Rights of Children" is very well received. The program seems better to me than when Jean Luc Stock (secretary of the group) and I put the reel together in Belgium. The diversity of techniques, of ideas, of music, the spontaneity of children made this 40 minutes go by very quickly. It was very encouraging. You could tell the difference between the rigidity of texts written by adults and the imagination of the children. Just see the results, the animation of the future!

A little later, the Disney Studios make a presentation of "computer-generated crowd characters" from Hunchback of Notre Dame, and at the same time Thailand and Sri Lanka show Asian animation. Impossible to see everything ...

Later that afternoon we had the pleasure of hearing Raoul Servais introduce his Harpya (1979) which always remains surprising with its strange bird-woman of paper, and Taxandria (1995), his hypersurrealist feature.Taxandria is a mysterious city which has neither memory nor clocks--neither past nor future--but where the inhabitants have lost their liberty. But love enters the picture and saves everything, as usual, and destroys the dictatorship of Taxandria, restoring liberty and happiness to the Taxandrians. The special effects are breathtaking, mixing live action with animation. I much prefer the animated parts.

Afterwards, just to change our thoughts and breathe, my chum Kine Aune from Norway and I went out shopping. I returned to a fish merchant where I had gone in May, and was very pleased to be recognized. I should note that in May we had compared the different ways of fishing in Brittany and Japan, and since we didn't speak Japanese and they didn't speak French, I had to make drawings of hooks and baits and fishing poles and nets ... the power of drawings!