Dear Mr. Ishida
Sebastian Bobik
2020
Artist Statement
In 2017 I saw a film called "Hana Chirinu" in Bologna, at a festival. It was only one of many cinematic encounters I've had with Japanese cinema over the years, yet this one stuck with me in particular. Since then I have realised how hard it is to see the film outside of Japan. I have decided to send its maker, a filmic letter through time and space.
My film mostly of course relates to a Japan of the past. It does so in different ways. There is the time of the Meiji Restoration, which the film "Hana Chirinu" depicts, there is the time the film was made (1939), and then there is the relation to the present. It is also a film about things that have been lost. Most Japanese silent films from before the 1920s have been lost. While not directly mentioned in this film, their absence is felt and there is the fear of losing another important work, in this case "Hana Chirinu".
Artist Bio
Sebastian Bobik, born on April 23rd 1996, is an Austrian Filmmaker. In 2017 he graduated from the SAE Vienna. In 2020 he finished his studies at the Friedl Kubelka School of Independent Film and has since focused on mostly experimental cinema.