Kaname Onoyama: Active on the World Stage as a Cinematographer

Thank you.

I became seriously interested after entering university. Before that, I lived in the suburbs of Osaka and Okayama, but at the time, there was no internet streaming, and I didn't have many opportunities to experience film.

The first film I saw after entering Keio and moving to Tokyo was the French film "I Stand Alone" (1998), directed by Gaspar Noé.

I was shocked by "I Stand Alone." Actually, when I went to see it, the director happened to be at the theater for a talk show. I didn't understand the content, but that was my first exposure to the French language, and it sparked my interest in France.

However, although I was interested, I didn't yet think I wanted to make films myself. Even in the Cinema Society, I spent more time talking with friends about films I liked than actually filming.

Actually, it was decided that I would go to graduate school after graduation, but after thinking about various things, I decided I wanted to be involved in film work after all, so I decided to leave Japan for a while.

Yes. After I decided to go to France, Mr. Mizuno, a senior member of the Cinema Society, told me, "If you've decided to do film, you should think about film from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep," and from then on, I started watching movies every day.

I took the entrance exam for a famous national film school, and unfortunately, I didn't get in, but I was able to enter a private film school called "ESRA."

However, even after entering, I was troubled. Even though I wanted to be involved in film, I didn't know what I wanted to do or what I should do. So after enrolling, I went to see Mr. Koizumi, my senior.

Yes. We met and you listened to various things. At that time, the topic of cameras came up.

At that time, we were still shooting on film at the film school, but no one wanted to touch the 16mm cameras. When I mentioned that I tried using a leftover camera and found it interesting, Mr. Koizumi remembered that I used to take photos with a camera when I was a student and said, "Why don't you aim to be a cinematographer?"

He said, "A cinematographer is a very important job, working as a pair with the director. Onoyama, you could aim for that position." That's when I decided to become a cinematographer.

No, at first I entered the field as an apprentice. However, although I was involved in about seven feature films as an apprentice, I couldn't move up to assistant. Meanwhile, younger people with clearly lower technical skills were being hired as assistants one after another. Realizing this irrational situation, I eventually chose the path of becoming an independent cameraman.

At that time, the film industry was in a major transition period from film shooting to digital shooting. Since my school days, I had been exposed to film, but I was also involved in digital shooting. As a result, I was fortunate enough to get a lot of work as someone who could handle both film and digital.

In 2007, around the same time as my graduation, the environment surrounding video was reaching a major turning point due to successive technological innovations, such as the spread of YouTube and the emergence of the iPhone, which expanded video viewing on mobile devices using 3G networks. Following that trend, I was shooting small-budget advertisements every day.

I had a desire to shoot films, but there were few opportunities, so I went to Los Angeles hoping to break through this situation somehow.

I just went and met various people. Among them was an agent in the American video industry with whom I now have a contract, and when we first met, they gave me some advice.

They said I wouldn't get work just by suddenly coming to Los Angeles. So, go to London. If things go well there, your name will definitely reach us.

So when I first went to London in 2017, I met a cameraman there, and he asked me, "Do you have Instagram?" I wondered what he meant, and when I looked at their Instagrams, they were already like portfolios. So that night, I deleted all the photos of my cappuccinos and cats and rushed to make my Instagram professional.

I showed it every time I went to London, and in the midst of that, I finally met the agent who currently handles my work in the UK.

That agent said, "A director named Henry Scholfield is looking for a new cameraman, do you want to try?" and I immediately replied, "I'll do it." At the time, he was a rising director in the UK and was also in charge of music videos for major British artists.

Thanks to that, I was able to shoot all the music videos he directed, and those works were even nominated for music video awards. That was the first time my name became recognized in the UK.

However, what I thought at the time was why things were going so well in the UK. I had an admiration for France and had made various efforts to prepare and blend into the local scene, but it didn't work out.

On the other hand, although I didn't have much personal attachment to the UK, the reactions from those around me were completely different. The feeling I had in France, that no matter what I said I couldn't move forward, wasn't there in the UK. I didn't know the reason at the time.

Shortly after that, the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement occurred, and at that time in the UK, not only the Black cinematographers, directors, and artists around me, but also other white people were taking BLM very seriously. They were saying that this time they would definitely eliminate discrimination from the video industry. I was very moved by that.

Of course, there were social movements in France as well. But regarding the video industry, the reaction was greater in the UK. In fact, in France, not a single famous director, artist, or even Black actor spoke out about BLM.

That's when I finally understood that the reason I wasn't given a chance in France was because I was being treated as an "invisible minority."

I didn't feel like I was discriminated against because I was Asian, but I was treated as if I wasn't there. So I finally realized that I was never given a chance in France.

That's right. "Top Boy" was a huge experience, and when I first went to the production, there were truly diverse people there. Diverse nationalities, age groups, and genders. There were also transgender people.

There, they told me that Netflix is actively supporting diversity, and since "Top Boy" is a very important work among them, a budget has been allocated for directors and cinematographers to advocate for diversity. So they said if I would become a mentor and take on young apprentices, they had money prepared to pay those kids.

So, when I posted a recruitment for apprentices using Instagram, that post went incredibly viral. I received 1,000 emails in 48 hours. About 100 of them were about their current situations, and reading them was incredibly heart-wrenching.

Some said they couldn't go to film school because of their environment but were making independent works, while others said they couldn't make a living from film alone so they were filming while working. I struggled immensely with which person to choose.

Exactly. After much deliberation, I chose a Black transgender youth.

They were incredibly motivated, and using that job as an opportunity, they were able to quit the bar job they had been doing reluctantly just for the money. Furthermore, while involved in the production, I was sometimes able to let them shoot simple scenes.

That person also taught me a lot about LGBT issues. Even though they were young, they taught me earnestly, and I felt deeply at the "Top Boy" site that there was much for me to learn as well.

Having gone through such experiences, I thought that if everyone in the industry did this, in the UK, perhaps someone else might be giving chances somewhere.

On the other hand, I wondered about France. If I had stayed in France as I was, I probably wouldn't have been able to continue working. Even now, there are situations where people who are motivated and love film are forced to quit.

Why must such bright-eyed talent disappear? I couldn't stand it, so I went back to France and started talking to my friends about what I experienced on "Top Boy."

Then, the response I got was unexpected: they said the UK has more intense racism than France. They said that doing such things itself is discrimination because, while biologically there is no such thing as race, it treats it as if there is and favors a certain race.

So, if everyone says "there are no people suffering from discrimination in France," I decided to see if they really weren't there and searched throughout the industry. Then I found many minority people who, like me, felt a sense of discrimination.

They were interested in themes like BLM and various others, and I learned a lot every time I spoke with them. It was interesting, and while I was meeting them one-on-one at first, before I knew it, the number of people had grown so large they wouldn't fit in a cafe.

At that time, someone suggested "let's make this gathering into an organization," and that's how Divé+ was created.

That's right. At first, we used "les divés," meaning "people of diversity," but at one point I heard from transgender people that French feminism was in a critical situation.

Feminism is originally a movement to stop all social discrimination, but some people who call themselves feminists discriminate against others while asserting their own rights. Because of that influence, they said that even if they join organizations dealing with women's issues, there is no place for them—a so-called safe place. So they said they would be happy if such a place existed.

Therefore, we added a "+" to the organization's name to include everyone, and it became Divé+.

What I'm thinking is that I want to spread the American and British-style mentorship system. I hope we can become a safe place within the video industry for minorities who feel discrimination.

Also, as I said before, I want to make people who are treated as if they are "not there" visible to everyone. For example, if an Arab director shoots a documentary, I make an effort to share it on Instagram.

I want to shoot works with everyone in a production environment without discrimination, in a way that doesn't promote discrimination. I want to realize that in France too.

I consider France my second home. I think it's a wonderful country, and I've met many wonderful people. However, I think there are aspects that are easily overlooked or where people become blind precisely because it is wonderful. I want those people to change. I hope to increase the number of people who change and say "no" to conservative ideas together.

Now I've started shooting American dramas as well, and I'm serving as the cinematographer for the new Amazon Prime series "Butterfly." This year, I was also in charge of a commercial for MLB Japan. I would be happy if you could take a look.

If I receive an offer, I think there is a full possibility.

However, when I worked in Japan before, I was surprised by the difference in the working environment. We usually follow international rules, so the shooting time per day is about 12 hours, and then we have to leave 11 hours before starting the next shoot.

But in Japan, shooting time is 14 hours, and sometimes it exceeds that. Since there is no concept of rest time, even if it's exceeded, they start shooting from the same time the next day as usual. I hear that sometimes they shoot with almost no sleep.

In the future, when overseas productions expand and shoot in Japan, I think there will be cases where they hire Japanese staff under international rules.

If that happens, even if a domestic production tries to hire the same cinematographer, everyone might choose the overseas production because of the difference in treatment. That would be a waste.

I think there are many young and talented people in Japan. I really want an environment to be created where those people can fully demonstrate their talents.