KAYOKO NAKAMURA
Filmmaker/ Media Artist
Filmography
Silent Exposure (2013): Documentary film
Co-director, co-producer, co-cinematographer, co-editor, sound designer
Silent Exposure is a personal story about a son of a Vietnam veteran, Chris Nostrand. Chris was fifteen years old when his father Alfred suddenly passed away from liver cancer. Now, eight years later Chris begins his journey for answers as he traces back to correlate his father's death to the Vietnam War and the toxic herbicide used to defoliate Vietnamese jungles, Agent Orange.
The Metamorphosis (2013): Fiction film
Director
The Metamorphosis is a short film based on the novel 'The Metamorphosis' written by Franz Kafka in 1915. The film starts: 'One morning, as I was waking up from delightful dreams, I discovered that I had been changed into a penguin.' Through the penguin's eyes, the film depicts the human beings' foolishness and arrogance that we think we are superior to other animals. The penguin talks about his best friend and memorable days. Moreover, the penguin's grief, caused by his inability to transcend his role in an unreal film, is also shown.
Song for Northern Lights (2013): Experimental film
Director
The experimental video Song for Northern Lights is my personal journey to see the Northern Lights in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in Canada. Yellowknife is 250 miles from the Arctic Circle and under the aurora oval throughout the year. The Northern Lights is a physics phenomenon; at the same time it is art of the universe to me.
I headed to the north by airplane and van, finally transferring to a dogsled. The bright lights in gorgeous colors of the aurora appear on the frozen lake at the midnight. I add my own music to the actual sound of the Northern Lights. The mysterious lights seem to dance and sing through the night.
Actual sound recording of aurora by Stephen P. McGreevy is used in this film as well as my music composition.