【Nata Metlukh：The Final Report】
The Final Report
Here I summarize my 6-month experience as an artist-in-residence in Hiroshima.
Work
In this residency, my main work was making an animated short film “Off-Time”. In 6 months I finalized the plot of the story, drew a storyboard, developed a visual style, and made several animation tests before starting animating. More than 1 minute of animation is done, and I plan to finish the film in early 2024. Hopefully, that year I’ll be able to visit the second edition of Hiroshima Animation Season again.
Also, I’ve collected ideas for a side project called “I Didn’t Know I Was Tall”. It will be a 24-page zine about Japan from the foreigner’s point of view. I plan to print several copies for my next visit to some Japanese festival.
One of my goals in this residency was to explore daily life in Hiroshima and use this experience in my future works. By fully immersing myself in Japanese culture I developed a deeper understanding and appreciation of it. One of my future films will be about how people see the world differently based on their cultural background, unique customs, beliefs, and values. This residency experience will be a great basis for it.
Culture
In this residency cultural aspect was the most valuable for me. I like the fact that the 3 of us, artists-in-residence, have totally different backgrounds. Our cultural exchange helped us to understand the world around us better and probably will make us better artists.
The possibility to travel was a powerful and enriching experience as well as it allowed me to gain a better understanding of Japan and its people. I visited Tokyo, Osaka, Kyushu, and Setouchi islands. I’ve got a lot of new ideas for my upcoming zine about Japan and some ideas for the next film.
Local Activities
I had a chance to participate in several talks with local residents. I made a couple of interviews for the local newspapers about the war in Ukraine, and three artist talks at the International Conference Center, Hijiyama University, and Joyama Junior High School with presentations of my previous works. I participated in the workshop at HAP school for kids with special needs and entertained home-schooled children in the Fureai workshop. I designed a Machikado workshop for Joyama Junior High School, and this project grew bigger where 300 students and their teachers collaborated and produced 11-minute animation, which they screened at their art festival at the end of October. I hope that my activities entertained and inspired students, and maybe some of them would want to build a career in the animation industry.
Festival
Hiroshima Animation Season was a real gem. I was happy to participate in it in several ways like making a part of the festival’s trailer, screening my film, and making a talk about my residency in Hiroshima. I liked how the festival was organized, the number of festival days felt right, and the diversity of the chosen films suited most people in my opinion. The whole atmosphere was pretty inviting and I hope that this festival will grow even bigger in the future.
Suggestions
I hope that this residency program will continue in the future. For the prospective artists, I would like to make two suggestions.
First is about accommodation - I feel it would be more productive and collaborative if we all stayed in one house or at least in one part of the city. And probably staying in a regular apartment rather than in a space for exhibitions would be more comfortable.
The second one is about workshops. I feel I could contribute more and better if the workshops were for people who are into animation and would like to know more about specific processes and freelance workflow. In any way, I hope that my workshops inspired some students and they were useful.
Thank you
I want to thank the organizers of this residency program and all the people who helped us along the way. I truly appreciate your hard work and dedication to supporting artists. I’m grateful for the support and resources that you’ve provided.
Thank you, Nobuaki Doi, for the invitation and making this residency possible, Kayo Kurita for bureaucracy support, Koji Yamamura and other behind-the-scenes crew members for the festival baking. And special thanks to Shizuka Miyazaki and Momo Hiraishi who locally managed our stay, making it easy and hassle-free. And I hope to see Mahboobeh and Sakura again at some festival. It was nice meeting you all, let’s keep in touch! ❤️