Interview with Makoto Nagahisa, director of “And so we put goldfish in a pool.”
Adolescence feelings are often hard to translate into a portrayal that echoes some of the reality we have all faced growing up. The anxiety, longing for more and fear of turning into our parents are looked over for movies focusing on teenage sexual exploits and underage drinking at house parties.
Makoto Nagahisa brings a fresh, funny and stylish take on the coming of age genre that scored the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival. We interviewed Makoto to get an understanding of his journey of directing the film and what motivated him to tell such a story.
Interview with Makoto Nagahisa
What was the biggest obstacle you had while directing?
There were no obstacles. It was just really fun. The one problem was that we shot in winter, so the pool was very cold.
How much of the films style was planned vs decided in the edit?
Everything was planned before the shoot. Some of the staff and I actually acted out and filmed a ‘prototype’ before the shoot.
So, there was almost nothing that I wasn’t sure about during the edit.
Why did you make “And so we put goldfish in the pool”?
The film is about the main characters wanting to break out of their confinement; to break free.
This reflects what I was feeling at the time: I wanted to break free from my office and from the assignments I was working on.
Maybe I shot the film in order to save myself.
Watch the full film below.
About “And so we put goldfish in a pool”.
This is a true story which took place in Saitama in 2012.
In the summer of 2012, 400 goldfish were released in the swimming pool of a junior-high school in Sayama Town, Saitama. The culprits: four female students.
According to the Police statement, the girls “thought the fish would look pretty”. But why did they really do it?
Based on a true story, this fast-paced short film continually betrays the viewer’s expectations as it explores the feelings of the four girls and their motives, accompanied by a soundtrack of old-time hits including Seventeen and Virgin Blues!
Director/Writer：Makoto Nagahisa
Executive producer：Takeshi Tanaka
Producer：Haruki Yokoyama
Cinematography：Hiroaki Takeda
Electrician：Yuki Maeshima
Sound：Junnosuke Okita
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第一回Moon Cinema Project、グランプリ作品。
Moon Cinema Project
mooncinemaproject.com/
●WEBSITE：goldfish-pool.com
●twitter：twitter.com/goldfish_movie
●TrailerA⇒youtube.com/watch?v=SxUkRu75pDQ&t=1s
●TrailerB⇒youtube.com/watch?v=zvfhv3ly0xA
