Films

The Fragile Heart of Moé

萌えの心臓

107 min / Documentary / India, Japan / 2010

Dir: Bharath Murthy

The film was an international co-production between India and Japan and part of the NHK documentary series ‘Tokyo Modern’. The theme of this series was to get foreign filmmakers to come to Tokyo and explore aspects of Japanese culture from a foreigner’s eye. It was broadcast in Japan on NHK’s HD channel in 2010.

The film deals with a particular sub-cultural phenomenon within the vast world of Japanese comics (‘manga’). During the early 1970s, manga fans began to create their own amateur manga, many of them using characters from their favorite stories that appeared in mainstream manga magazines. These they published themselves and sold in little conventions of like-minded people. ‘Comiket’, now the world’s largest comics convention, began as one such amateur manga event, where self-published authors would put up little stalls and buy and sell each other’s comics. The film focuses on a few such women authors, trying to understand the roots of this unique cultural phenomenon, and its strong yet subtle influence on contemporary Japanese society. The film also explores the social and economic structure that supports this kind of artistic activity, and the positive role that it plays in the lives of Japanese people.

The Jasmine of Mysore

26 min / Documentary / India, Japan / 2007

Dir: Bharath Murthy

“Amateur pornography,” as young directors have named it, is a sign of changing sexual mores among young Indians. In mainstream movies, even deep kissing has been taboo, and the only pornography available has usually been from Europe or America. But in 2001, a video appeared on the Internet that overturned these conventions, surprising young Indians all over the country. It was “The Jasmine of Mysore,” a pornographic video produced and performed in by an Indian student couple, and even now, it is constantly being accessed. Set in Bangalore — where IT is transforming young people’s lives — this film follows the every day lives of “Jasmine’s” ardent fans and a fanatic young woman, searching for the “signs of change” in India’s younger generation.

– from NHK Enterprises Program Finder.