Welsh-born Director Makes Films in Japan

John WILLIAMS, 100 Meter Films

It’s difficult enough for most movie directors to stake their claim in their own country’s film industries, let alone stamp their mark on a foreign country’s movie-making industry using a totally different language.

But that’s what Welsh-born movie director John WILLIAMS has done. Not only was he nominated for Best Newcomer Director by the Japanese Director’s Guild for his 2001 movie “Firefly Dreams,” but both this movie, and his latest work — mystery/thriller “Starfish Hotel” (2006) — have traveled the international movie festival circuit and earned awards and high acclaim. Of particular note is that John produced the drama “Firefly Dreams” entirely in Japanese with a Japanese cast and crews.

However, John’s path to success was not an easy one after he moved to Japan in 1988. Inspired to write, direct and produce by his love of cinema, John struggled to make a name for himself as a filmmaker in Nagoya where he made short films and finally a feature film completely outside the mainstream Japanese film industry. John has since moved to Tokyo where he has established and grown his own movie production and distribution company, 100 Meter Films, which has helped co-produce a number of foreign movies and television programs shot in Japan.

In stark contrast to the glitz and glamour of the Oscars, making a movie is a punishing ordeal, as outlined in John’s description of a typical day for the “Starfish Hotel” crew — “We would wake at 6 a.m., commute to the pick-up point in Shinjuku, board buses and sleep as we were driven out to the filming location. We would arrive at location at 8 a.m., have a brief meeting and set up equipment until 12 noon. The actors arrived at 10 a.m. and would go into make-up for two hours. Shooting started at 12 noon. and continued until 9~10 p.m.. When finished, we would commute back to Tokyo and arrive around 11.30 p.m.. Get home, shower, fall into bed, wake up at 6 a.m. the next day and then do it all again for the next 32 days.” But despite the stress, one of the benefits for John of this exhausting schedule was the opportunity to work with Japanese acting stars like SATO Kouichi and EMOTO Akira, which he says was a “great honor and a challenge.”

What did it take for John to establish himself in the movie industry? “I made eight short films before attempting to make a feature film, so I guess I had a track record, and people knew that I could write scripts, direct actors, and had the discipline to finish a project once I had started it. I think all filmmakers everywhere have to prove that much. In order to be taken seriously as a director, you have to have made at least two or three short films and usually show that you are able to write to a certain extent.”

Are there any significant differences between working with Japanese actors and non-Japanese actors? While stating he has worked mostly with Japanese actors, John adds, “I don’t really imagine that there is much of a difference. There are as many different kinds of actors and styles of acting here in Japan as there are anywhere else. However, I love working with young actors. There is something about their spontaneity and lack of confidence that can lead to real energy. Older actors tend to know what they are doing, which is good if you are shooting fast, but not so good if you want to be dazzled.”

But despite having created award-winning movies, John still says he has made many mistakes and errors of judgment. “But I don’t know for certain that I would not do the same things again in the future,” he says. “Although I realize what the mistakes are, it’s just that it is sometimes very difficult to control the film-making process. In particular, you have to make decisions very quickly, especially during a shoot when you have so much pressure on you to decide so many things, and when you are editing a film quickly and cannot test it on an audience. Often you have to take gambles that sometimes do not work.”

And John’s plans for the future? “I finished a script for a horror film last year which we are raising money for at the moment. As a company we have several other projects in development, ranging from comedies to art-house films, from really low-budget to multi-million dollar films that may take years to get financed. We are also working with METI and UNIJAPAN on a scheme called ‘J-Pitch,’ which is basically a series of workshops designed to foster more co-productions and international Japanese cinema.”

100MeterFilms
www.100meterfilms.com

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