KIAC

"I, who was hikikomori 17 years ago and left Japan and became a filmmaker, return to my hometown and embark on a journey to encounter the other me, who would have been there had I not left Japan at that time."

"A Million Monkeys" is a project by filmmaker Arata Mori that takes the so-called “generation of the ice age of employment” as its point of departure. Working with film director and actor Shingo Ota and others, he uses methods of psychodrama—a form of psychotherapy using theatrical techniques—to move across and blur the boundaries between reality and fiction, self and other, theatre and moving image, in order to examine the divisions of contemporary society.

On this occasion, ahead of the completion of the planned feature film, we will present a screening of "A Million Monkeys Dream (working title)", a video work produced as an early stage of the project and exhibited at the Tokyo Arts and Space Creator-in-Residence 2025 Exhibition. The screening will be followed by an artist talk in which he introduces his career as a filmmaker and discusses the ongoing project, focusing on the notion of “acting” as it exists between documentary and fiction, together with the audience.

The event will take place at coffee stand Kozaki, a café in downtown Toyooka, and will be held on a one-drink minimum basis.