"Reborn-Art Festival x T-Card" connects children's futures with local communities; Kohei Imanaka's documentary film "How to Cast a Magic Spell" is completed

2019.09.06 Press Releases
T Point Japan Co., Ltd.

-A behind-the-scenes film of children's video production-

T Point Japan Co., Ltd. (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and COO: Kazuhiko Kitamura) has been working on the "Reborn-Art Festival × T Card" project since June 2017 as part of T Card's social value creation project, "T Card Everyone's Social Project"*1, which aims to connect the future of children with local communities. We are pleased to announce that the documentary film "How to Cast a Spell," by Kohei Imanaka, which was produced as part of the 2019 "Reborn-Art Festival x T-Card" project with the theme "Let's cast a spell on Ishinomaki," has been on display at the Reborn-Art Festival (RAF) venue at the former Kankeimaru Shoten since September 7, 2019.

Director Kohei Imanaka, a member of the production group Bunbuku, organized by director Hirokazu Koreeda, sympathized with the concepts of RAF and the "Reborn-Art Festival x T-Card," and focused his work on the question, "What are the children of Ishinomaki today thinking and seeing?" He created "How to Cast a Spell," a making-of film for the video work "Magic," which was planned and produced by the children of Ishinomaki.

"How to Cast a Magic Spell" was filmed over a period of approximately five months, from March 2nd, when the children's art production planning workshop was held, until August 20th, when the film was completed and exhibited at RAF, closely following the children as they worked on their art and their daily lives. As children living in the disaster-stricken city of Ishinomaki create the video work "Magic," they come face to face with the present and future of Ishinomaki. This 30-minute documentary film captures their growth and is exhibited alongside "Magic" at the RAF venue.

■Comment from Kohei Imanaka
Every time I interact with the children of Ishinomaki
There was a lot to be noticed.
Not because they are children or adults,
I would be happy if you could listen to the voices of the people who live there.

T Point Japan aims to ensure that T Points and T Cards "connect people and society" and will continue to work to create new social value.

■Project name: Reborn-Art Festival × T-Card

■Project implementation period: June 2, 2017 to December 31, 2019 (planned)
■Project Overview: In collaboration with Ishinomaki City, the host city of the "Reborn-Art Festival," this project is led by children of Ishinomaki, and involves the participation of both adults and children, creating artwork that will be rooted in the local community and serve as a source of regional revitalization for the future.

■About the video work "Mahou"
In creating "Magic," the children participated in numerous workshops and fieldwork to come up with ideas for their work. They also considered their ideal city of "what Ishinomaki would be like," and illustrated their dreams and ideals. The animation of the illustrations and scenes filmed by the children will be turned into a video work set to the song "Magic" by Takeshi Kobayashi and Salyu, and will be unveiled as "Reborn-Art Festival x T Card."The space where this work will be installed will also feature illustrations and objects created during the process of creating the work, as well as a children's artwork, "Shell Table," which was exhibited at the RAF in 2017, and all of these, along with the video, will be exhibited as a single artwork. This project was completed by nine children from Ishinomaki, ranging from elementary school students to high school students, under the direction of art director Chie Morimoto and the creative group goen°.

■What is the "Reborn-Art Festival"?
This is a new comprehensive arts festival that takes place mainly in the Ishinomaki and Oshika areas, where you can enjoy art, music, and food. The Ishinomaki/Oshika area was one of the areas that suffered major damage in the Great East Japan Earthquake. The aim is for this venue to be a place where contemporary artists from Japan and abroad can visit and create works while interacting with the local community, where famous chefs from all over Japan can encounter local people and ingredients, where they can enjoy food that can only be tasted here, and where various styles of music events can be held, creating a place where various "encounters" can be created.

*1 T-Card's social value creation project utilizes 69.61 million T-members, 191 T-Point Alliance companies, and approximately 5 billion pieces of purchasing data provided by the T-Card to give back to society and contribute to consumers.
*2 This project inherits the concept of the "Tohoku Support Project," which T Point Japan has been running since 2011 to support the smiles of children in Tohoku and community spaces.

Materials related to this matter

"Reborn-Art Festival x T-Card" connects children's futures with local communities; Kohei Imanaka's documentary film "How to Cast a Magic Spell" is completed

Inquiries regarding this matter
T Point Japan Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Officer: Ando
TEL: 03-6800-4464