Unknown Realms

By Jon Wilks

Straight out of Kobe, American film creator Darryl Knickrehm is causing a stir on the net with his self-produced, self-directed movies set and filmed in Japan. Since majoring in film studies at Chapman University, Knickrehm has set up the DK PRO production company in Kansai, and is also responsible for Osaka's very own International Film Festival, which kicked off last year. We caught up with him as he began an intense publicity schedule for the Unknown Realms: Japan collection, currently screening on Vuze, Blip.tv, Miro, iTunes, Veoh and Brightcove.

The Laborer is an impressive piece of film-making. How long does something like that take to put together?

For a project like The Laborer it takes roughly 6 months to do the physical work, but took much longer from initial concept to completed film. I wrote the script in 2004 or 2005 and actually went through auditions, but I couldn't find the right actor, and since I was new to Japan I didn't have the connections to get it made properly. I restarted production in the fall of 2005 and we held auditions in December or January, did some rehearsals in the following months, and shot the film in the spring (we were aiming for the cherry blossom season, but it was late that year, so all the cherry blossoms had to be added later digitally - actually a good thing because it would have been impossible to shoot with all the crowds). The film went through about 4 months of post production and premiered in the summer of 2006 (the theatrical premiere was in November that year at the Miami Short Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Foreign Film).

The actors look like they actually have some experience, rather than just being friends of yours. How do you find them?

152 was my first project in Japan, so I didn't have the connections to get real actors, so my friends volunteered for that one. But in The Laborer, the lead was played by Dan Yukino, who is a professional. With all the films we usually have auditions where anyone is welcome to come and try out. We post casting call sheets around at universities and give them to actor friends who pass them along. I like to let anyone audition because you never know what hidden talent someone might have. Can anyone get involved? Yes! If anyone is interested they can visit the website and email me from there. I am always looking for new crew members as well.

I was particularly impressed with the music you've used. The credits suggest that it's homemade, rather than having been sourced...

I have always loved music, and I often feel it is possibly more important than the visuals of a film. So I work hard with my composers to get the right feel and tone for the music. I am very lucky to know two very talented musicians (Phillip Van Louwen and drt) who I hope to work with on future projects as well. Phillip Van Louwen has since gone back to America but is a talented pianist. drt lives in Osaka and does some wonderful experimental music. He has released many things on the internet. His internet albums can be found on Soundclick.com.

What have you achieved so far with these shorts?

I hope each project tops the last in some manner or another. On a professional level, I'd like each short to become more successful than the last, which it seems they have. While In Absentia was extremely successful, being screened at film festivals in Italy, Australia, the US and Japan, The Laborer and The Visiting have gotten into more festivals and been nominated for some awards. For future projects my goal would be to get accepted in to some larger film festivals like Sundance, but the competition there is fierce (out of 5000 entries they only select about 50). Also, with each film I've met more people and made more and more connections, which removes more and more obstacles to getting films made. It has also allowed me to follow other projects. Last year I was able to produced the Kansai International Film Festival in Osaka. The festival featured "Japanese films by foreign film makers", and was quite successful, pulling in an audience of 500 over 3 days. I'm trying to put together the second year of the festival currently. Also, the films are starting to get picked up. 5 of the films were picked up for distribution this week, actually. I'm also in negotiation with broadcasters to air a few of the films on TV in the States. I haven't been able to gain financial success from film making yet, but it is a start and with each film I'm growing as a filmmaker.
 
What do you have planned for the future?

To me, I have to make films. Its a part of me. Movies are the perfect medium, combining both the visual and conceptual, and for me its just an instinctual drive to create in this way. So I'll be doing it whether anyone is watching or not. I just hope someone is, because it'll allow me to continue creating with less barriers (it hasn't been very easy starting from the ground up, in a completely different country, with no connections). I've had to work as an English teacher to pay the rent while doing this, so I guess my aspirations for the future are to be able to be support myself  with film making so that I can devote my time100% to it. I hope to move on to feature film making because it's more marketable. I'm working on a number of feature film scripts. The script for The Oneironaught, a psychological mystery, is almost complete, as well as a comedy about teaching English called One Fowl Day. But I will always make short films, especially for the Unknown Realms: Japan channel. The Witching Hour is coming up and will air in a month or two. I also have a few other short ideas in mind that I hope to make for the channel as well.

DK PRO
www.dariru.com

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