Oki Hiroyuki is said to have begun making films after watching Yamamoto Satsuo’s Fumochitai (The Barren Zone) (1976) at the age of nineteen. A driving force behind postwar Japanese cinema’s independent-production movement, Yamamoto pursued “collective filmmaking”—a commitment that became foundational to Oki’s own creative practice.

Within Oki’s filmography—so often framed as experimental and personal—“collective filmmaking” marks a crucial point of departure: Colors calling, far!, made while he was a student at the University of Tokyo, was itself born from such shared practice. Thereafter, the forms collaboration could take remained a constant thread in Oki’s practice. This program screens Yamamoto’s Men and War trilogy, originally scheduled for screening as part of the 2023 Commission Project.