Two men, one hunched over holding a camera and one crouching holding a microphone, film and record a gray cat in an urban alleyway. The cat looks at the microphone.
A group of four men, two standing and two crouching, surround a manhole cover on a street in front of a red brick building. One crouching man is holding a microphone on a monopod over the manhole while the other crouching man watches intently.

Koganecho Community Videomaking Workshop, Koganecho Area Management Center, Yokohama, Japan, 2024

A pair of workshops held at Site-C Beneath the Railways in Koganecho invited members of the local community to create videos about their neighborhood—what they love about it and what changes they would want to see in the future. Inviting anyone from seasoned filmmakers to absolute beginners, the workshop allowed neighbors to share their skills and perspectives and make a work about Koganecho that they can share with the world. After impassioned discussions and a fast production timeline, each workshop group worked together to develop and produce one collaborative video.

Ooka River Interview, 2024. Created by the participants of workshop 1.

Neko no Osusume (Cat’s Recommendations), 2024. Created by the participants of workshop 2.

How the Videos Were Made

Participants signed up for the workshops in advance and met at Studio C, an artmaking facility at Koganecho. A goal of the workshops was to bring together Koganecho Area Management Center-affiliated artists-in-residence and local community members, which happened with great success: aside from the facilitators, participants included an artist-in-residence, a recent college graduate who grew up in Koganecho, an urban design researcher studying the Ooka River, a KAMC staff member, and a Kanagawa resident who has spent considerable time in the neighborhood and attended Koganecho events for decades. Because each participant has an equal amount of perspective to offer, everyone in the room was assigned the role of “co-producer.”

After introductions, The facilitator posed two questions: 1) What is something in Koganecho that you want to share with people who have never been here? 2) What is an issue that residents of Koganecho face?

Each brainstorm shifted to discussions of what it is they wanted to film. The facilitator asked: 1) what is our message? 2) how will we share our message? 3) What are some locations nearby we can use to stage our video?

After the brainstorm, the facilitator demonstrated how to use the production equipment, including cameras, microphones, and lighting equipment. We then took two hours to walk around the neighborhood and record the videos. Inspired by news from New Zealand that the Whanganui River had been granted the same rights as a human, the first group created a video imagining the Ooka River on the day of its emancipation. One participant took on the role of the river and answered questions about what it means to be a river, the river’s relationship to its human neighbors, and what it hopes for the future. The second group decided to create a neighborhood guide from the perspective of two cats living in a nearby alley. They offer their perspectives on public art and businesses in Koganecho. We also went down to nearby Wakabacho and asked business owners specializing in cuisine from other countries (Korean and Vietnamese restaurants and a Thai grocery) about their favorite foods, all from the point of view of cats. The resulting video took on the perspective of a local television program called 「ネコのおすすめ」.

Three workshop participants discuss hand drawn storyboards on a table covered in markers and snacks.
Three men holding cameras and microphones face a male actor. They are standing beneath a low concrete ceiling. Large buildings are visible in the distance
Four men sit around a large piece of white paper on a table that is covered in notes and drawings. One man holds a marker in his hands
A white man with a mustache in a black shirt sits at a table covered in papers and markers. A wall of art supplies are behind him. He motions with his hand as if he speaking.
Two large white sheets of paper are hanging on a wall of shelves that contains art supplies like cans of spray paint and adhesives. The papers are covered in notes and drawings about a river.
Two six-panel storyboards are on a table covered with a large piece of paper. The large piece of paper is covered with doodles of cats and notes. The storyboard depicts the face of a cat wearing a crown. A hand points at one panel, and another hand t
A white man with a mustache, glasses and dark hair in a black t-shirt holds up a piece of printer-size paper with crude sketches in blue marker of stick figures in 6 panels. He points at one of the panels. Behind him, a large white piece of paper cov
A group of four men stand around a stone water fountain next to a metal fence near a river, under a leafy tree. One man kneels and holds a camera. One man holds a microphone on a pole. Another man stands behind them, peering at the camera display. Th
A group of four men, two standing and two crouching, surround a manhole cover on a street in front of a red brick building. One crouching man is holding a microphone on a monopod over the manhole while the other crouching man watches intently.
Two men, one hunched over holding a camera and one crouching holding a microphone, film and record a gray cat in an urban alleyway. The cat looks at the microphone.
A bilingual flier with the title "Free Video Workshop" in large text. A cartoon drawing of a video camera floats in a blue sky over a photograph of a city skyline, including some cartoon buildings. Blocks of text appear in both English and Japanese.
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