Avant-Pop Selection by Image Forum, Tokyo

Image Forum is an independent nonprofit organization that started operating in 1971 under the name of Underground Film Center. Its mission has always been to distribute experimental, independent, and alternative films. Image Forum, which has expanded its activities overtime, now includes a film library, an art school, and a publishing house (Daguerreo Press, Inc., founded in 1980). Every year since 1987, from late April to mid-June, the Image Forum Festival takes place in important Japanese cities (Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Niigata and Sapporo). The festival screens Japanese and international features, and also introduces several directors that have left a mark on the history of independent cinema through various retrospectives. This year, Image Forum is a guest at LUFF and will present two programs. The first is dedicated to experimental filmmaker Takashi Ito, who is known in Lausanne for being awarded the prize for best experimental short in 2003. The second is a selection of recent animation and experimental works, all made by artists who are currently promoted by Image Forum.