Due to personal reasons, none of the presenters were able to attend the seminar. We only did the bonding session.
The bonding session theme was “Do you have a movie that is really important to you or that you particularly enjoyed?”. Members were asked to talk about this movie, describe its pitch quickly and why this movie is special to them. Below is a list of everyone’s choices:
– Augustin: Le Roi et l’Oiseau. A movie about a dictator trying to marry a farmer, herself in love with a chimney sweep. They try to escape the dictator throughout the dystopic kingdom and get help from “The Mockingbird”, opposed to the dictator. This movie is special to me because of its beautiful dialogue, music and ambiance. It is also special to Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and inspired them in their cinema carrier.
– Masaya: Watashi wo Kuitomete – Frances Ha. Interestingly Masaya doesn’t appreciate Japanese movies so much. He mostly described the Frances Ha movie, The main character is a strange girl, the ambiance is similar to the Grand Budapest Hotel. It’s a black and white movie that Masaya finds interestingly very colourful.
– Korn: Koe no Katachi. A slice of life movie where a guy bullies a girl in high school and ends up feeling guilty about it, so he tries to make up for it. This movie is very emotional and got him into anime.
– Megumi: The Good Place (TV Show). This show is about a woman who was supposed to end up in the “bad place” that ends up in the “good place” by mistake. It is very funny.
– Natasha: The pursuit of Happyness. This story is about a single father and his kid who start homeless, and the father becomes a businessman with a good life in the end. It is about overcoming hardships and brings a lot of motivation to Natasha.
– Nosa: Terminal – The man from nowhere – Old Boy – Burnt by the Sun. Nosa chose two Korean thriller movies, Old Boy being his favourite. Burnt by the Sun is about life in Russia in the beginning of the USSR. He also talked about the Animal Farm based on the book of George Orwell.
– Pat: Frozen 1&2. Two Disney fairy tales about a young woman discovering she has supernatural powers while she tries to rule the kingdom she inherited, and her sister who tries to help her. Pat really likes this movie because of the sisterhood and woman empowerment themes.
– Pere: The Shawshank Redemption. The story of an innocent men accused of corruption and cheating on his wife who gets put in prison. He has a lot of
misadventures but uses his skills to help others in the prison. It is a very powerful movie with deep happiness and sadness.
– Riho: Back to the Future 1&2 – Parasite. The first is a story of a student travelling back in time: he intervenes in its own past and tries to come back. The movies have good music and a nice vibe! Parasite is very different; it talks about poverty in Korea and the movie is thrilling and scary.
– Shuta: Porco Rosso. A Miyazaki movie that Shuta finds special because of all the details not explicitly mentioned in the movie, there is a lot to reflect on and the movie appears different to a child or an adult.
– Li: The Last Emperor. This movie talks about the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1900-1960 approximately). His story is very sad, but the movie is considered to be one of the best biographies and has won a lot of Oscars.
– Yoshiteru: Come and see. A very horrific movie about the Belarusian massacre by the Nazi.
– Abe-sensei: Awakenings – The Witness. The last one is a movie about Amish people (US citizens living without technology and outside of US main society) getting involved unwillingly in a mass shooting.
Overall, we had very interesting discussions on the different movies and I’m really happy to have discovered so many great movies !