Filmmakers and Producers

Roddy Bogawa

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Japanese American artist Roddy Bogawa (b. 1962) studied art and sculpture and played in punk bands before turning to film. In his youth, Bogawa struggled with a desire to assimilate until the punk scene gave him a way to truly express himself, and the DIY punk aesthetic continues to influence his work. Other influences include Andy Warhol, the 1970s avant-garde, and filmmakers like Chris Marker, Jean Luc Godard, and Yasujiro Ozu. He currently lives in New York City and works as a Professor at New Jersey City University.

Bogawa’s work explores internal conflict, the relationship between individuals and their environment, and how identity is shaped by culture and history. He casts non-actors and actors side by side and layers his stories with metaphors, abstract material, and multiple narrative voices. His feature-length films, a unique blend of experimental and narrative styles, range from loosely (Some Divine Wind) and strictly (I Was Born, But …) autobiographical to science fiction (Junk) to documentary (Taken by Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis).

AVAILABLE FROM TWN

The Imagined, the Longed-for, the Conquered and the Sublime
Roddy Bogawa
1994, 8 min., Color, US
The video is a collection of 'pure images' of landscape, redeeming these images for what they are. Taken, but unaltered, in the order they appear, from the films Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, 84 Charlie Mopic, Apocalypse Now, and the Deer Hunter, the abridged mini-versions of these 'ep...

Some Divine Wind
Roddy Bogawa
1991, 72 min., Color, US
SOME DIVINE WIND (a reference to the Japanese term Kamikaze, or “divine wind”) tells the story of Ben, whose father was part of a U.S. bombing mission that destroyed his Japanese mother’s village—and killed her entire family—during World War II. Although his father discovered this horrible coinciden...

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