Mita Bungaku Newcomer Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 18 (2011) award
Yu Kaneko
かねこ ゆう
Kaneko Yuu
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1974 （Japan）
- Nationality
- Japan
- Languages
- Japanese
Career
- Occupations
- critic, filmmaker, folklorist, film director, screenwriter
- Active Years
- 1998-
- Affiliations
- Editorial committee member, documentary magazine 'neoneo', Co-founder, Tokyo Documentary Film Festival
- Influenced By
- Alexander Sokurov, Alexander Nevskii, Jonas Mekas, Chris Marker, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keio University, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies | Faculty of Environment and Information Studies | — | — | — | Japan |
Keio University, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
Country:
Japan
While at university he created a 16mm film that was officially selected for the Mediawave Festival (Hungary).
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Nara Avant-Garde Film Festival Grand Prix | Into the Darkness of the Nubatama Cosmos | — | Nara Avant-Garde Film Festival | 受賞 |
| 2009 | Film Art Criticism Prize (Honorable Mention) | Regaining Criticism: On Masao Matsuda | — | Eiga Geijutsu (Film Art) | 受賞 |
| 2011 | Mita Bungaku Newcomer Award (Criticism Category) | Arc-shaped Islands: Sokurov and Nevskii | 評論 | Mita Bungaku | 受賞 |
| 2017 | Suntory Award for Social Sciences and Humanities | The Borderlands of Image: Art Film / World Cinema | — | Suntory Foundation for Arts | 受賞 |
Nara Avant-Garde Film Festival Grand Prix
2008
Work:
Into the Darkness of the Nubatama Cosmos
Organization:
Nara Avant-Garde Film Festival
Result:
受賞
Film Art Criticism Prize (Honorable Mention)
2009
Work:
Regaining Criticism: On Masao Matsuda
Organization:
Eiga Geijutsu (Film Art)
Result:
受賞
Mita Bungaku Newcomer Award (Criticism Category)
2011
Work:
Arc-shaped Islands: Sokurov and Nevskii
Category:
評論
Organization:
Mita Bungaku
Result:
受賞
Suntory Award for Social Sciences and Humanities
2017
Work:
The Borderlands of Image: Art Film / World Cinema
Organization:
Suntory Foundation for Arts
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Folklore at the Margins: Natural Thought in the Postcolonial Era
2015 criticism / folklore studiesA collection of essays examining marginal folklore and concepts of nature from a postcolonial perspective.
folkloremarginspostcolonialism
The Borderlands of Image: Art Film / World Cinema
2017 film criticism / film theoryCross-reading art film and world cinema to consider the borderlands of visual expression.
art filmworld cinemafilm theory
Documentary Filmmaking Techniques
2017 practical guide / criticismA practical text combining documentary production methodology with critical perspectives.
documentaryproduction techniquesfilm criticism
Micronesia Travelogue: A Journey through the 'Jomon' World
2022 travelogueA travel essay traversing Micronesian islands seeking resonances with the 'Jomon' world.
travelethnographyoceanic cultures
Indigenous: Anthropology Learning from Indigenous Peoples
2023 anthropology / criticismDevelops anthropological thought drawing on learning from indigenous peoples.
indigenous studiesanthropologyways of knowing
Exploring Asia's Uncharted Regions: Fieldwork among Zomia's Minorities
2025 travelogue / ethnographyA travel-ethnography recording fieldwork among minority groups in the Zomia region of Asia.
fieldworkminoritiesZomia
Film Fetish
2022 documentary filmA documentary exploring film fetishism; world-premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and screened at various festivals.
film theoryfetishismdocumentary
Belgrade 1999
2010 documentary filmA documentary dealing with the former Yugoslavia; it was theatrically released in Tokyo and Osaka.
warmemorycontemporary history
Into the Darkness of the Nubatama Cosmos
2008 experimental film / shortAn experimental 16mm short film that won the Grand Prix at the Nara Avant-Garde Film Festival.
experimental filmcinematic poetrydarkness
Muraburi of the Forest
2019 documentary filmA documentary focused on rituals and ceremonies, screened at international film festivals and well received.
ritualfolklorememory
Bibliography
- Folklore at the Margins: Natural Thought in the Postcolonial Era
- Foreign Lands in Literature: Walking the Settings of Novels
- The Borderlands of Image: Art Film / World Cinema
- Documentary Filmmaking Techniques
- Mixed-Blood Archipelago: Attempts at Post-Folkloristics
- The Pleasure of Criticism: Collected Criticism of the 2010s
- Introduction to World Cinema
- Optical Ethnography: Fieldwork / Film Criticism
- Micronesia Travelogue: A Journey through the 'Jomon' World
- Indigenous: Anthropology Learning from Indigenous Peoples
- Exploring Asia's Uncharted Regions: Fieldwork among Zomia's Minorities
- Filmmakers: How to Make Personal Films (editor)
Translations by Author
- The Tombstone of Walter Benjamin (co-translation)
- Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art, Architecture (co-translation)
- Violence and Splendor (co-translation)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- a prose style that fuses ethnographic observation with film criticismessayistic, field-oriented descriptionscritically analytical essays grounded in scholarly references
- Recurring Motifs
- marginsfolklore and ritualmemory and darkness in filmmiscegenation and contact
Legacy
Known for combining documentary filmmaking and folkloric/ethnographic observation, he has influenced contemporary Japanese film criticism and field-oriented documentary practice.
Trivia
- His father is screenwriter Yutaka Kaneko (note: different individuals share similar names).
- Graduated from Keio University's Faculty of Environment and Information Studies (while a student he made a 16mm film that screened at an international festival).
- Co-founded the Tokyo Documentary Film Festival in 2018 with colleagues.
- 'Film Fetish' had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2023.
- Received the Suntory Award in 2017 for 'The Borderlands of Image'.