experimental film maker
Tatsu Aoki first began making films in regular 8 gage in early childhood. His biological father, Wahei Hoshino was a movie producer at Shin Toho Movie Studio in the 60's and was the reason for Tatsu to get into small gage filmmaking. He studied experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is currently an adjunct Associate Professor at the Film, Video and New Media Department, and teaches film production and history courses. He has made many experimental short films. As much as his musical activities, Tatsu Aoki's films are shown internationally. His super 8 diary films and experimental films with optical printing has always been the main attraction of his screenings around the world.
Visit: Tatsu Aoki Experimental Films @ vimeo.com
Filmography
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY & Digital Documentations
Origins of Now (work in Progress - 2009)
Chicago Premiere! "PUZZLE" trilogy
Experimental Film and Soundscape by Tatsu Aoki
Nov. 16, 2012. 19:30
The Nightingale Theatre
1084 N. Milwaukee Chicago, IL 60642
http://nightingaletheatre.org
Chicago has not seen before!!!
Tatsu Aoki’s legendary experimental film works.
Puzzle I (2001), Puzzle II (2002) and Puzzle III (2003) will be shown in its entirety with live music and sound scape.
A day trip to Lincoln Park zoo turns in to a colorful journey of light and shadow. The world of abstraction and mesmerizing cinema - mechanical reality.
Puzzle trilogy will invite you to an experience of traveling sprits and obscure moving images
Total of 118 min. with live sound scape performance
featuring music and sound by Jonathan Chen, Jamie Kempers,Guillermo Gregorio and Tatsu Aoki.
Sampler link: https://vimeo.com/11223966
Film Events
Sun, Apr 8th, 2012 at 5:30pm
Sight and Sound: Films with Live Soundtracks
Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago IL
http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/sight-and-sound
AH SOU DESUKA: IS THAT SO!
2012, Tatsu Aoki, USA, 42 min.
Chicago-based avant-garde jazz musician/composer Tatsu Aoki, a School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumnus, joins special guests in performing a live soundtrack for his new film AH SOU DESUKA: IS THAT SO! Aoki describes this transformative exploration of displacement and Diaspora as “an experimental visual journey of chances.
Image X Sound: Films by Tatsu Aoki
Location: Chicago Filmmakers
Live musical accompaniment by Jonathan Chen and Tatsu Aoki
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 8:00pm
chicagofilmmakers.org
Chicago artist Tatsu Aoki has been straddling an ambitious music and film career for over 30 years. As a bassist, he combines eastern and western influences using improvisational jazz and traditional Japanese music that has sustained over 90 recordings and attracted widespread acclaim. As a filmmaker, he has been producing an extensive body of work that uses experimental and diaristic techniques to transform and examine his everyday world. For this program, Tatsu will be presenting several lesser-seen works from his extensive filmography, and performing a live acoustic set with musical collaborator Jonathan Chen. Guest artist Adebukola Bodunrin will also present a new experimental work. (various years, 16mm, video, total time approximately 90 min.)
The 2nd International Animated Film Festival
ANIMATOR - POZNAN', Poland
July 6-11, 2009
www.animator-festival.com
ANIMATION & MUSIC -- Tatsu Aoki -- films with live music by the animator
Tuesday, July 07th 2009, 09.00 pm
Flux Dance (2008) 9 min.
Origins of Now (work in Progress - 2009) 15.min
Gate (2009) 25 min. with Live Music
Solution (1998) 23 min. with Live Music
The 1st International Animated Film Festival ANIMATOR
7- 12 July 2008 in Poznan, Poland
www.animator-festival.com
Tatsu Aoki - retrospective with live music performed by the artist
Tuesday, July 08th 2008, 09.00 pm
"Puzzle" (Live Music)
"Decades Passed" (Sound Track by Jeff Parker)
"Travelling Sprit" (Live Music)
"Recolleciton of Memories" (Live Music)
The Silent Minority
By Ed M. Koziarski, Chicago Reader
April 2, 2009
Jazz musician Tatsu Aoki is making a documentary film about the experience of Chicago’s nisei, many of whom settled here after the internment camps of World War II - "Origins of Now: Stories of the Chicago Nisei".
[read the article]
