From the "People" Archives:

by Maya Churi

If you could only take one memory with you for the rest of eternity, which would you choose? Posed with this question, Hirokazu Kore-Eda ("Maborosi") documents the answers in his new film, "Afterlife." Part scripted, part documentary, the film brings up questions of reality and memory, forcing the audience to contemplate the question themselves.

A meditative cross between "Defending Your Life" and "A Christmas Carol," the film follows a group of characters, all recently deceased, who are taken on a journey through their past by a group of social workers. Limbo is almost like an old school or government building; nameless, except for a vague circular insignia. Once a memory is chosen, the workers re-create the event in a soundstage, complete with props, lights and costumes. The social workers turn into filmmakers, recreating the memory into a short film complete with cast, crew and set. Afterwards, the dead file into a screening room, watch the films, and quietly disappear, slipping silently into their perfect dream. This description however gives only a hint of insight into the complexities and depth of "Afterlife," a hilarious and moving account of moving on.

indieWIRE sat down with Kore-Eda and his translator Linda Hoaglund during the 1999 Sundance Film Festival to talk about the festival, Japanese television and the release of "Afterlife." The film opens today at New York City's Film Forum.

indieWIRE: What do you think of your first Sundance?

Hirokazu Kore-Eda: I approached Sundance with a certain amount of trepidation. Many Asian filmmakers who have come here have not had the best experience, because most of the focus is on American independent cinema. But the first screening was sold out. My one goal was accomplished at the filmmakers brunch because I got to meet Robert Redford. The other goal, of course is promoting my own film here, but in addition I also wanted to meet some of the directors in the independent film community. One nice thing that happened was that Toyomichi Kurita, the DP who shot Robert Altman's latest movie, loved it.

iW: This is my second time seeing "Afterlife" and this time I took a friend and he thought it was hysterical...

Kore-Eda: I am so happy when people laugh at it. Frankly, I was dreading coming here because I understated the bad reputation that Sundance has in Asia. You say, "I'm going to Sundance" and everyone goes, "oh yeah, right."

iW: I'm interested to know if there is a kind of Hollywood/Independent film type of hierarchy in Japan?

Kore-Eda: Up until the early '90s there was a hierarchy like that where the three big studios made their movies and owned all the theaters. They had a complete monopoly but now it's really failing, partly because the three studios have never cultivated good in-house directors. All the good films were being made by the independents. The Japanese equivalent of a summer blockbuster is a New Years Day movie, and two of the big studios were fighting over one independent film. One ended up getting it and it's being distributed nationwide in 200 theaters. But it's made by a completely independent company that was savvy and knew that the studios were falling apart. Now the power of filmmaking is shifting.

iW: Do American independents get distributed in Japan?

Kore-Eda: Tokyo is wonderful for distribution of international films, a lot of Iranian films, Taiwanese films. But most of the art films are from Europe and Asia. One or two of John Sayles' films have been distributed. It's still very difficult, it's moving slowly. One distributor is doing a whole Cassavettes retrospective but that's not current independent. One woman who runs the Sundance equivalent of a film festival in Japan focused on young, eight millimeter, short films. Her take on why American independents don't make it in Japan is because she thinks a lot of Japanese audiences like to go see beautiful movies and tend to rely a lot on visual information that comes from the screen. Her belief is that a lot of American independents are really about language and the script and since there's a language barrier and there's not enough information coming from the screen it's a harder sell in Japan.

iW: Who is distributing "Afterlife" in Japan?

Kore-Eda: We are doing it ourselves. We started designing the posters when we were making the film and starting contacting the theaters themselves and it's actually slated to open in Tokyo, in a theater like the Angelika of New York. At the moment "The Big Lebowski" has parked itself there, so the release got pushed back. But it's the ideal place with a loyal audience.

iW: "The Big Lebowski" is popular in Japan?

Kore-Eda: "Reservoir Dogs, " "Trainspotting," "Underground" and "The Big Lebowski" -- all those movies.

iW: Speaking of Japanese audiences, I saw this article about a very popular television show in Japan about a guy who locked himself in his apartment until he received some kind of final big prize. The longer he stays the more prizes he wins, though sometimes he wins only enough food for the next few days. Have you seen this show?

Kore-Eda: I just wrote a piece in a Japanese magazine comparing this show to "The Truman Show." It's a manifestation of how sick Japanese television is, but it's super smart. It's part of an on-going series called "Electronic Boy." The show has different segments with the Michael Moore, "Roger and Me" approach. It's "Roger and Me" without a brain.

iW: A lot of the clips that we see of Japanese television always seems so humiliating. I saw one about a man who would go to a public space and scream in someone's ear and then the camera would zoom in really quickly to get their reaction.

Kore-Eda: In the eighties there was a huge shift in the humor of Japanese television. Up until the then the humor was garnered by people who said humorous things, but in the '80s it was garnered by people who were being laughed at, while the audience watches and watches. I watch "Electronic Boy" faithfully every week not because I like the show but because I'm interested in where the smartest T.V. producers and directors are going, what direction they are headed in.

iW: So does he actually leave the apartment?

Kore-Eda: They keep changing it because they can't risk the possibility of exposure. While shooting they actually have to film in a different apartments each week because there is a mass of people trying to track him down.

iW: How long are the shows?

Kore-Eda: 7 or 8 minutes. Because of the popularity of that segment they published a book of his diaries which says what day a T.V. was delivered or what day canned goods were delivered. It sold 300,000 copies!

iW: It seems a lot like something you would find on the Internet or public access.

Kore-Eda: There is another very popular show that is horrifying in terms of it's violation of privacy. There are two guys who are MEV-like disk jockeys and what happens is: real people who think their girlfriend is cheating on them call up these guys and they go with a camera into her apartment, open the door while she's there and start going through her stuff and finding proof. When they've got proof then they pretend that they're calling up the other guy that she's sleeping with until she confesses. Privacy is not really a concept in Japan. There is no concept that privacy is a protected right so people can get away with it.

iW: What's next, is there another project coming up?

Kore-Eda: Yes, there are several proposals but first we need to work on making "Afterlife" a success in Japan, recoup the money and then move on to other projects. Because there is a recession in Japan, it's hard to find investors so you want to make sure you recoup your money first.