Song of Stone, The

With this film Toshio Matsumoto has reached one of the highest point in the Japanese documentary filmmaking of the '60s by imaginatively appropriating and reconstructing the still photographs taken by Earnest Sato. Original photos show the stonemasons' life and the surrounding landscape of Aji village in Shikoku which is known for granite production. Matsumoto's extremely static and logical manipulation of images has created, contrary to its methodology, extremely emotional world of its own. Matsumoto moved towards fiction film in the late '60s directing series of controversial independent production, and the mid?70s onwards he turned to experimental films where he actively induced electronics based high-technology to the film art. In 1988, he returned to theatrical film with Dogura Magura. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)