Screening 'Otaku no Video' in The Hague

On Wednesday 4 June, The Nutshuis in The Hague will screen 'Otaku no Video', a 1991 comedy anime spoofing the life and culture of otaku (individuals with obsessive interests in media, particularly anime and manga) as well as the history of Gainax, its creators. The anime is noted for its mix of conventional documentary film styles, with a more traditional anime storytelling fashion.

The screening will be followed by a discussion led by manga artist and scholar Lien Fan Shen.

(please scroll down for a more detailed description of the event)

Tickets, time & location

Plot summary
Ken Kubo is a Japanese male, living quite happily with his girlfriend Yoshiko and being a member of his college's tennis team, until he meets one of his former friends from high school, Tanaka. After Tanaka brings him into his circle of friends (all of them being otaku, too: a female illustrator, an information geek, a martial artist, a weapons collector...), Kubo soon makes the wish to become the Otaking, the King of all the otaku.

He manages to create his own model kits, open shops, and even build a factory in China. Later, he loses it all when one of his rivals (who's also married to Yoshiko, who never forgave Kubo for abandoning her) takes control of his enterprise, but after Kubo and Tanaka make peace, teaming up with hard-working artist Misuzu, Kubo successfully take over the anime industry with a magical girl show, "Misty May". Ken and Tanaka create Otakuland, the equivalent of Disneyland for otaku. The story suggests Otakuland to be located in the same city of Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, as the original Tokyo Disneyland[2]. Ken and Tanaka return to Otakuland in a post-apocalyptic submerged Japan and find a robot piloted by their old otaku friends. Then they fly off to space in search of the planet of Otaku.


Extra
After the screening, Lien Fan Shen, a graphic novelist and Assistant Professor in the Division of Film Studies at the University of Utah, will discuss this docu-anime and fan culture.

Lien Fan Shen earned a Ph. D. in Art Education at The Ohio State University and an MFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Her creative work includes graphic novels, animation, and digital arts, and her research interest focuses on Japanese animation and Critical theory. Shen published five graphic novels, and her graphic novels were selected in the Golden Caldron Awards by the Government Information Office and awarded The Best Romantic Comic in Taiwan. Her animation and digital arts have been screened and exhibited in Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, and United States. Shen recently collaborated with choreographer and computer scientist to create real-time interactive digital art that combines dance performance and animated images. Their collaboration has received Center for Interdisciplinary arts and technology Research Fellowship Award.
Lien Fan Shen is currently Artist-in-Residence at Leiden University.


Details
Date Wednesday 4 June
Time 20.00 hrs
Tickets Euro 5 (available online or at the door)
Location Nutshuis, Riviervismarkt 5, Den Haag

Explore female masculinity and create manga this June

Leiden University’s Political Arts Initiative (PAI) and the Honours Academy are happy to host a series of masterclasses by PAI’s artist-in-residence Dr. Lien Fan Shen in June 2014.

A triptych of Dr. Shen's work

Lien Fan Shen, a manga artist and Assistant Professor in the division of Film Studies at the University of Utah, will share the political contexts, analytical frameworks, and artistic practices which shape her award-winning comic books and academic inquiry into gender identity, digital culture, and creative expression over three masterclasses.

The series is free of charge, with all texts and art supplies provided, and welcomes students from all disciplines. While each session can be taken separately (N.B. pre-requisites for Masterclass III), active participation in all three masterclasses and the final residency exhibition (on Monday 30 June 2014) will be recognised with 1 EC granted by the Leiden University Honours Academy.
Please register your interest before 1 May 2014 at the very latest, after which you will receive a full syllabus.

More information on the masterclasses is here: http://spotlighttaiwanleiden.weebly.com/masterclasses.html

The 48hr Flash Fiction Challenge 2014

Sci-Fi London (The London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film) and UrbanFantasist.com are setting you an exciting challenge: a 48 hour flash fiction competition on a sci-fi or fantasy theme.



How it will work:
- Entry is free and open to anyone who writes or would like to dip a toe in the literary water.
- The story must be between 1000 and 1500 words (excluding title and author’s name and contact details).
- Entrants can take part by registering below and receiving the elements to base their story on by SMS message and email.

On Saturday 12 April (sometime between 10am -1pm) Sci-Fi London will send you:

1/ The TITLE for your story
2/ A piece of DIALOGUE that must be incorporated somewhere into the story
3/ An optional SCIENCE THEME for the story.

You then have 48 hours to write your story. The deadline for submission is Monday 14th April at 1:00pm

More information is here: sci-fi-london.com/flashfiction

GOOD LUCK!

Asiascape's Spotlight Taiwan Film Festival 11&12 April

Asiascape is delighted to host the 'Spotlight Taiwan Film Festival' on 11 and 12 April at Leiden University College The Hague.

announcement for the Spotlight Taiwan Film Festival

Over the past 30 years, Taiwan film has had an outstanding record of achievement at major film festivals, particularly those in Europe. Our Taiwan film festival under the title ‘Performing Taiwanese Identity’, to be held on 11th and 12th April 2014, follows up on this success. It has two objectives. The first objective is to introduce the Leiden University Students and the general public in the Netherlands to Taiwanese cinema. The second objective is to have these film screenings as a key platform for understanding modern Taiwan, especially the issues of Taiwanese identity.

Over the course of 2 days (actually one evening and a day) we will introduce you to 4 blockbuster films that directly and indirectly relate to the performance of identity from different standpoints. The films touch upon the triangular relationship between Taiwan, China, and Japan. Each screening will feature a follow-up Q&A session with invited scholars and film critics.
All films are free of charge.

We start the festival with a festive opening -with drinks and snacks- to which you are all invited (registration is advised)

More info and registration for the opening event is here: www.spotlighttaiwanleiden.weebly.com/film.html

New Manga Competition - Interpreting Kurama Tengu

Following on the success of Asiascape’s first manga two competitions Asiascape.org is proud to announce its third competition 'Interpreting Kurama Tengu'.

We invite manga artists, cartoonists, students and scholars to offer graphic interpretations of the classic Japanese Noh play Kurama tengu.
Contributors may interpret this task as creatively, expansively, or parsimoniously as they like: style, genre, and length may all be freely chosen. Contributors are encouraged to give the Kurama tengu a Science Fiction twist but this is not a requirement.

The text (or part of the text) of the original Noh play may be used if desired but is not necessary. The purpose of this manga competition is to explore the expressive potential of manga.

Euro 1000 in prizes, plus the best artist will be considered for commission for a follow-up project

Deadline: 1 June 2014

The text of the Kurama tengu play as well as details on how to submit, can be found on the Asiascape site: http://asiascape.org/competition.html

Symposium 'Gaming the City'

The quality and character of urban space has long been the concern of city-planners and architects, striving to make versatile, functional, or even beautiful environments for people to work, shop, and live. Increasingly, urbanites have sought to re-appropriate these spaces for themselves, re-imagining and re-tasking structures, buildings, and layouts in creative or radical ways, transforming the city into a site of play.

The Political & Philosophical Arts Initiative (PAI) based at Leiden University, is delighted to welcome Iain Borden (Professor of Architecture & Urban Culture at University College London) and Dan Edwardes (Director of Parkour Generations) to offer keynote talks at the official opening of PAI's geo-caching photo-exhibition at The Nutshuis in The Hague on Wednesday 16 April 2014. Iain and Dan were recently part of the team that designed the Southbank Centre re-development in London to better facilitate skaters, freerunners, graffiti artists and other urban players. 


The full programme and info on how to register is here: http://cachingthehague.weebly.com/symposium.html

Asiascape:Digital Asia inaugural issue out - limited open access

On 24 & 25 January, Dr. Florian Schneider, editor of the Asiascape:Digital Asia, invited leading scholars to join us at Leiden University to revisit the emancipatory potential of digital media in Asia and discuss the digital turn in Asian studies.
Read more about the discussions and ideas that accompanied this Asiascape:Digital Asia conference  on Florian's 'Politics East Asia' blog. In case you are also interested in pictures of the event, they are here.

Some of the papers presented at that conference also appear in the inaugural issue of Asiascape:Digital Asia which is out now.
Brill is offering open access to individual users until the end of 2015.
All the information is available here:  http://www.brill.com/products/journal/asiascape.