Interviewer: Tsuchiya Masaaki
Abstract
Nonaka Akihiro is the founder of Asia Press International. As Japanese television started to adopt camcorder footages and fund local filmmakers for programs on Asia in the early 90s, Nonaka collaborated with young people in China and trained them to work with cameras for TV documentary production. In this interview between Nonaka and Tsuchiya Masaaki, we learn about the network extended by Nonaka between Chinese independent filmmakers and Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF), as well as how Nonaka enabled filmmakers to deliver exploratory and authentic work in television until the early 2000s. Independent documentary auteurs such as Ji Dan, Feng Yan, and Hu Jie all began their careers with the support and influence of Nonaka.