Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hey SSD, check with MSF. Last I saw they weren't doing earmarked donations for Japan, they didn't know how long they would be there. That may have changed.
I would be all over a film showing and sushi buying sale. i think that's a great idea. If y'all do a raffle or something let me know and I'll try to send you a donation if it fits your theme.

Oh fork me, you're right. I somehow managed to miss the word "not " when I read about their plan. What other people groups do folks like? The Red Cross gives me hives.

And that'd rule! Thank you!

bookmarking...

Just an idea - Film Forum is doing "5 Japanese Divas" three weeks of works featuring great actresses from April 1 to 21. Wonder if we could piggyback something off that... http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box ... 15909.html

i looked up some other japan raffles yesterday - lots of manga and dvds, but also some origami books, some little toys, that kind of stuff.

once we have a date, i'm happy to start contacting some companies.

I don't think everything needs to be on theme. I think any kinds of crafts, gift cards to local businesses, etc. would be fine.

That looks great, Tofulish! I'll add the Film Forum to my list of venues to contact. I haven't heard from the movie guy again, but I'll follow up with him once we decide on our new "people relief" group for the benefit. Who do you all like?

What do you all think of AmeriCares? They have an earmarked fund, and if I'm doing the math right, only 1% of their expenditures goes to something other than programs.

http://www.americares.org/
Network for Good report: http://www2.guidestar.org/PartnerReport ... 06-1008595

This Huffington Post article list six animal charities that ARE operating in Japan.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/1 ... Foundation

Right. Awesome. Thanks. We've got the animal bit settled. It'd be awesome if folks could weigh in on how to best help people.

Over here is a group of organizations that are, as of the 11th, active in Japan in some capacity, though some are still in the fact-finding stage:

http://philanthropy.com/article/Chariti ... ic/126706/

1000% behind this.

Awesome. Thanks. I think I still like Americares (which is on that list). Does anyone object or have another preference?

Location: I'm going to start reaching out to places today. I'm mostly looking into venues that have hosted free events or benefits in the past. I'm starting with Bell House, Union Hall, Littlefield and DCTV. Suggestions welcome.

Programming: I reviewed the MB website and while it's great that they offered us those films, I've never even heard of most of them and I don't think they'd really draw a crowd beyond hardcore fans. Instead of following the rights, what do you think of picking a few really good movies and trying to reach out to the actual US distributors? It'll be more work, but I think it could be worth it.

Since this is for Japan, it makes sense that we keep it kind of thematic, but I'm also concerned about stereotyping and the potential to come off as exploiting Japanese culture instead of celebrating it. What do people think of one anime and one live action film? Maybe we can try to go after kind of classic stuff, like Seven Samurai, Ghost in the Shell, Grave of the Fireflies or something. Personally, I didn't like what I saw of Macross (Macross 7), but I kind of like the idea of showing it as a tribute because one of the directors died in the earthquake.

My knowledge of Japanese film is REALLY limited, though. I'm happy to do the leg work to try to get the rights to show the movies, but I need suggestions from other people, or we'll be stuck with Ringu and Cowboy Bebop :P

I, too, like Americares, since it is rated highly by Charity Navigator

Regarding the films, I like the idea of showing one anime film and one live-action film. As I mentioned to some of you before, I would like one film to be lighthearted and the other to be serious.

I agree that we must be careful not to stereotype the Japanese. There's too much stereotyping going on in the media.

OK, cool. Folks I've spoken too outside of here like it too, so we'll go with Americares and Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support.

More specific programming suggestions would really, really help.

I still stand behind Grave of the Fireflies. It's an extraordinarily powerful movie and is generally considered to be an example of everything the genre can accomplish. It's also accessible to those who may not necessarily be fans of anime to begin with.

As for live action, if we go with a Kurosawa film, I recommend Ikuru, which is abut a Japanese bureaucrat with a year left to live determined to make something of his life in the time he has left. If we want to branch off into more esoteric and less serious territory, then we could show Battle Royale, which is AMAZING and fun. If you don't mind courting controversy, then we could also screen In the Realm of the Senses, which was an extraordinarily controversial movie when released, mostly because of all the sex. When I got done watching it, I... really didn't know what to think. Which, in my mind, is good -- a movie should stick with you for a while; the worst are those that you forget about mere hours after watching. If people like Japanese horror, there's shitloads of it out there, though of particular interest is Audition, which starts as a romance and ends like a less gory but more psychologically upsetting version of Saw.

Alternately, we could show the Japanese-inspired Ghost Dog: the Way of the Samurai, which also has the distinction of being one of my favorite movies. It's about a mafia hitman who lives his life as if he were in feudal Japan. He often quotes Hagakure. It's like a mob movie meets a samurai movie. Also, the Rza did the soundtrack.

I second Chris' recommendation for Grave of the Fireflies as the anime film.

Regarding the live-action film, Ikuru sounds like a good choice. Ghost Dog: the Way of the Samurai can be shown as an example of Japanese cinema's influence on American culture. I don't think we should show two movies about World War II, so Battle Royale would be out. In the Realm of the Senses would be too disturbing for some people because of its graphic scenes.

OK, rad.

I've tracked down the distributor for Grave of the Fireflies (thanks, Wikipedia!) and will email them ASAP.

I'll try to find the US info for Ikiru too (Wikipedia only has for Japan). It sounds nice and uplifting and I think a lot of our audience will be able to relate to a dude being inspired to some sort of activism.

As much as I love Battle Royale, since our anime is going to be a super downer, would it make sense for our live action to be murder free?

I forgot that the Film Forum is also on my list of places to contact. And now that we're really moving, I'll start sending those emails. Woo!

The distributor for Grave of the Fireflies (Section23 Films) doesn't seem to have any contact info online but I'm working on it.

Awesomely, The Bell House has already gotten back to me and has offered their Frontier Room (cap 200 standing, 150 mixed seated/standing, or 100 mixed seated/standing with tables for food/merchandise) on April 18 or 25 and would just need to cover the cost of a door person and sound person which would run about $150 for that room.

The problem: both of those days are Passover, so I can't be there. I'm totally cool with working on an event I can't attend, but I'd need someone to really be in the loop for everything and become the point person for the day.

Also, it's a Monday, so it'd be the evening and we'd probably just have time for one movie, the sushi demo, pulling the raffle, thanking people for coming, etc. They may think we only want the evening, so I could see if they have any daytime openings on the weekend (I can at least walk over if it's a Saturday, even though I can't handle money or anything).

What do you all think?

I would recommend trying to find another place that would accommodate us outside of Passover (April 18-26), since Dayna has shown leadership in putting together this event; therefore, her presence would be indispensable. Unless, of course, we hold a physical meeting at least two weeks prior to the event in which Dayna meets with us to delegate the tasks so that we can keep momentum going.

Certainly, we should finalize the location within a few days.

OK, I've contacted The Bell House, Littlefield, DCTV and The Film Forum. I didn't email Union Hall yet because it's owned by the same people as The Bell House so I'd like to respond to them first but I'm waiting for a couple more opinions before I do (thanks Marcos!).

Just heard back from DCTV: they don't donate space. Their rates aren't terrible, but we've been offered a space for pretty much free, so it seems silly to pay, right?

DCTV is located in an area in Manhattan that is accessible through several subway lines (Lexington Avenue, Broadway and Jamaica) and three bridges, so it is understandable that they would charge for the space. On the other hand, Bell House would be more difficult for people from northern parts of the city, including North Brooklyn (though it's doable via the G train), to reach. We should choose Bell House only if we are confident that many of our friends, wherever they live, will be able to travel to Park Slope for a weeknight film event.

I think DCTV charges in part because they don't have a bar, so they can't make money off that if we take the whole admission fee. The lack of bar also means we'll have to lay out money or get donations for drinks, alcoholic or not. And someone told me yesterday that they don't have heat.

The Bell House is easy from the D, N, R, F, G and I think at least one bus. I've even walked from there to Atlantic to get the LIRR (the station also has the 2, 3, 4, 5 and Q). I think this is the type of event people will come out for even if it's not super easy. I'm going to email them and ask about the possibility of a weekend afternoon, though, so we're not cutting into their peak time and it's not Passover.

I had no idea about the disadvantages of DCTV. Thanks for the explanation.

Small update: I think I finally found contact information for a real person at Section23 (Grave of the Fireflies) and an international email address for Toho (Ikiru), so let's all cross our fingers that at least one of them work out.