This is a crowdfunding campaign for a 40 min. documentary film about the Kyoto School philosophy, the lives of some of these philosophers and about the significance of their ideas for our time.
Even if we don't reach the target budget of this crowdfunding campaign the project will go on with the support of external funds.
"Nothingness" - for many people this is a frightening, irritating and entirely negative word. But exactly this term is central to the philosophy of the so called Kyoto School which defined nothingness (mu 無) in their own way, radically different from general understanding.
The Kyoto School was not an institution, but a diverse, open and controversial group of Japanese philosophers in the 20th century founded by Nishida Kitaro and related to Kyoto University. Most of these philosophers practiced Zen and many of them actively supported interfaith dialogue. Their work represents the beginning of a unique Japanese philosophy.
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For the first time Zen Buddhism and Western philosophy encountered in a productive way and the tradition of the East met the vocabulary of Spinoza, Hegel, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger. The group was very complex and multifaceted. Some scholars were criticized for being nationalistic while another one, Miki Kiyoshi, was close to Marxism and died in prison. The Kyoto School is still little known beyond academic circles.
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The writings of these philosophers are profound and deeply inspiring and their ideas deserve wider attention. Living in a world that is obsessed with so-called growth and with producing more and more material and immaterial products, a philosophy based on the term "nothingness" might offer a different way of thinking. Now we can still interview former students, colleagues, friends and family members of some of these philosophers. This opportunity should not be missed.
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A documentary film (40 minutes or more, High Definition Video) in a distinct cinematic style with English subtitles. If the budget permits we might also make a version with German subtitles.
We decided for simplicity and equality regarding the rewards for those who contribute financially. Everybody will receive the same reward independent of the contributed amount: a password protected private link to download the completed film in HDV format. This is also ecologically better than packaging and shipping DVDs around. We expect the film to be completed by April 2014.
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DokhausBerlin is a German documentary film production company with a focus on social and ecological topics. The proposed project will be realized by Thomas Josef Roth.
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THOMAS JOSEF ROTH ( Directing, Writing, Editing ) was born in Frankfurt/Main, Germany where he was a student and assistant of the renowned avant-garde filmmaker Peter Kubelka at the Art College Staedelschule. He received a Fulbright Scholarship for Media Studies at The New School University in New York City and a one-year artist residency in London from the Hessische Kulturstiftung.
His films have been shown in many international film festivals and won several awards. He has been invited by institutions including New York University and Jan Van Eyck Academy to show and discuss his work. His fiction film "A Wishing Woman" won the Festival Director's Award at the Los Angeles MethodFest 2003 and was called by the Los Angeles Times "risky, visionary, imaginative."
He is knowledgeable in Zen Buddhism and Western philosophy, speaks fluently English and basic Japanese. For more information visit http://www.dokhausberlin.org
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CAROLA HESSE (Pre-Production, Budgeting) was born in Kassel, Germany and studied documentary filmmaking at Goldsmiths College, University of London, where she completed her Master of Arts in 2005. Since 2003 she visited the Middle East several times where she produced the documentary "We Don't Exist". This film about an Arab Bedouin community in the Israeli Negev desert has been awarded by the One World Broadcasting Trust.
Amongst many other projects she worked on the campaign mediaids about HIV/Aids in India in collaboration with Germany's broadcaster Deutsche Welle and made a film about the slum inhabitants of Mumbai for the NGO SPARC. Since 2008 she has been working for the German public service broadcaster 3Sat, mainly as a freelance author and director for the science and future magazine "nano". For more information visit http://www.dokhausberlin.org
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DR. MATTEO COLLODEL (Research) pursued studies in Asian religions and philosophies and in social anthropology and earned his research doctorate in logic and philosophy of science from the Ca' Foscari University of Venice in 2007. He was Research Fellow of the Institute of Philosophy, Humboldt University of Berlin and made research visits at various academic institutions including the University of Manchester, the University of Cambridge, the University of Konstanz, the University of Vienna, the London School of Economics, the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Minnesota.
In 2012 he organized an international conference on the notion of incommensurability and the relation between the East and the West at the National Taiwan University, and a second one on the philosophy of Paul K. Feyerabend, which included a contribution on Nishida and Feyerabend, at the Humboldt University of Berlin. For this film project he collaborates with Thomas Josef Roth on research.
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KAORI IMAJO ( Translation, Subtitling ) was born in Ehime, Japan. In 1999 she moved to London where she worked as a Japanese teacher at the International House London Language School. Since 2009 she lives in Berlin where she works as a freelance Japanese tutor and translator. Kaori Imajo will be in charge of the correspondence in Japanese during Pre-Production and for the translation of the subtitles.
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MASAHIKO UEJI ( Music ) is a Japanese composer and improviser for piano, synthesizer and bass clarinet who lives in Berlin. After his classical piano education he played in Tokyo in Rock and Jazz bands and collaborated with many international performers and dancers in multidisciplinary projects. Masahiko Ueji is the right person to combine feeling and intelligence for a subtle original soundtrack. The music for the presentation video was from a recent live concert of his in Berlin.
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- Pre Production (additional research and preparations): April - July 2013
- Filming: August - October 2013
- Editing: November 2013 - January 2014
- Subtitling and Sound Post Production: February - March 2014.
- Estimated delivery: Spring 2014
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The aspired $ 20,000 are the minimum budget to realize this project based on using our own camera and editing equipment. Only the director Thomas Josef Roth will go to Japan where he has contacts and where he will work with a local crew. Filming with a small team of three people is not only less expensive, but also allows an intimate atmosphere on the set.
- Travel expenses 2,500
- Accommodation 3,000
- Salaries crew 5,000
- Additional equipment rental 500
- Interpreter on set 2,500
- Translator for subtitles 2,500
- Copyrights archival 1,200
- Music 800
- Tapes 300
- Postproduction Sound 800
- Insurances 500
- Miscellaneous 400
- TOTAL: US $ 20,000
If we don't reach the financial goal of this campaign we would still use the contributions as a basis for further fundraising especially in Japan. But we rather hope to exceed the aspired amount to have more flexibility for the production.
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You can also support our campaign by copying the link of this page and sharing it on Facebook or by mailing it to other people.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP ! WE APPRECIATE IT.
