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DIRECTOR - JEFF MIZUSHIMA
Jeff Mizushima’s award winning directorial debut, ETIENNE!, which he made right out of film school, got him named as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film in Filmmaker Magazine in 2009. ETIENNE! was a story about a man taking his terminally ill dwarf hamster on a road trip to see the world before it dies.
In 2013, Jeff left indie filmmaking to work in the health and wellness industry, after the SXSW festival premiere of a feature he wrote and edited, SAKE-BOMB. That film was about the Asian American experience as framed within a raunchy buddy comedy, striving to be offensive and inappropriate for social commentary and debate.
Jeff had found more fulfillment working in fitness than the trivial world of entertainment. However, after years of missing the creative side of the film business, Jeff quit his full time job to go back into the hell he thought he escaped from, but with a different, less desperate and abusive, perspective.
WHO IS LUN*NA MENOH? is a feature documentary over twelve years in the making. Jeff started filming the Japanese conceptual artist, Lun*na Menoh, in 2007 around the same time frame as his first narrative feature. The goal was to complete Lun*na’s documentary after ETIENNE!, but due to budget, ego, and deep-rooted insecurities, the film wasn’t finished until 2020.
Jeff now charades as a born again filmmaker, getting back to writing and developing smaller projects independently. He also got into fitness photography, which he grew a passion for during his time in the health and wellness community. Please pray for him.
SYNOPSIS
"Who Is Lun*na Menoh" follows the life and work of the extraordinary Japanese artist. From her early career in Japan to the underground music scene in Los Angeles, from fashion show runways featuring her sculptural designs to art galleries showing her fantastical work, Lun*na's edgy, witty and beautiful creations are explored.
Director Jeff Mizushima follows Lun*na's artistic career, showcasing her uniquely individual expressionism and interviewing her family, gallery owners, models, fans, and fellow visual artists & musicians to find out who and what Lun*na Menoh is and why her art, in all of its forms, fits in our world.
Running Time: 81 minutes
Director: Jeff Mizushima
Producer: Reiko Kondo
“In a world filled with self-serious artists and dreadful documentaries Who is Lun*na Menoh is nothing short of a small wonder. Director Jeff Mizushima has crafted a highly playful and downright funny portrait that manages to convey the dynamic energy of a rollicking and remarkable creative spirit. Lun*na Menoh may be an unfamiliar name for most viewers, but by the end of the film she will surely be one of your new favorite artists.”
“Sometimes you instantly love someone and you don’t know why, then you see a documentary about them and it all becomes so clear. Filled with surprises and gotcha moments, Who is Lun*na Menoh? captures all the intangible, incredible qualities that make this artist so singular.”
“What makes a star? A star is a star is a star of it’s own making, and that is what creativity provides us, and it’s garments that we wear. In the case of Lun*na Menoh, is the medium is the message, the life course, the dynamic, and what more appropriate place than in film, in Hollywood? She wears that well with a purpose that fits.”
“A great meditation on artifice. It is an incisive deconstruction of the formulaic presented as a love letter to the creative process. Just when the viewer thinks they have spotted a cliché from every documentary they have ever seen, Lun*na winks at them and a wink from Lu*na is a reward for one’s own sophistication. Satire itself is satirized in Lun*na Menoh’s great send-up of predictable filmmaking. An ode to art, this hero’s journey has more layers than a viewer can count or the average artist could ever imagine - but Lun*na Menoh is just not your average artist.”
“A meta exploration into the mind of the wildly fascinating Japanese visual arts genius that is Lun*na Menoh.”
“Being meta can be cliche nowadays. As boundaries of fact and fiction become more blurred in the Documentary Renaissance that we are currently living in, this film tests said boundaries, veering in left turns that may seem disingenuous, but in the end, is both a commentary and love letter to an artist who navigates and challenges the absurdity of the modern art scene, and always on her own terms. The jury is honored to announce the documentary award to WHO IS LUN*NA MENOH?”
“Celebrates the spirit of creation of independent thought with both wit and passion. Pulls back the curtain on the creative process itself where even what Lun*na had for lunch is a curiosity. In this time of celebrity-based purely on a perverted sense of popularism, the film is a cultural oasis. reassuring in that the anarchy in us is still our greatest weapon in the struggle against mediocrity and Art it’s the foremost expression.”
Original Score – Ali Helnwein
Ali Helnwein is an Emmy winning composer and has orchestrated Grammy winning projects. He composed all the music for 13 "Touch of Evil" short films, featuring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Gosling, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Jessica Chastain, Rooney Mara, Mia Wasikowska, Michael Shannon, Viola Davis, Jean Dujardin and Adepero Oduye.
As an arranger/ orchestrator he did the strings on the title track to Florence & The Machine's No. 1, chart topping album "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful" as well as Draco Rosa's Grammy Winning album.
Additional Score – Tsugumi Takashi
Tsugumi has lived and worked in Brooklyn, NY since 2008. She has collaborated with many different types of artists, including dancers and choreographers, fashion designers, sculptors, and musicians. Tsugumi had been creating music with Lun*na for her fashion / art shows, and most recently she composed several pieces for this film.
Although all her bands she performs with as a bassist stopped any live shows during the pandemic, her newly formed band COUPY has been using the time for writing and recording. A song by COUPY is also contributed a music for “Who is Lun*na Menoh?”
STILLS
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Lun*na Menoh produces her own fashion shows that are about fashion shows, where she not only designs all the clothing, but also stage-manages, directs, and performs her own live music that poke fun commentary about the nature of the high fashion show culture. My approach to this documentary is framing her life’s work within her largest fashion show she’s ever produced. During the course of 24 hours, I show the lead up to the show, the rehearsals, the show itself, and after the show. In between that timeline, I intercut flashbacks of previous shows, interviews, and work Lun*na has done throughout her decades-long career. This will complement the events that happen during the present show. The cumulative effect should reveal the highly conceptual, witty, and creative world of Lun*na Menoh.
WHO’S IN THE FILM
Moeko Maeda
Moeko Maeda is a Japanese Contemporary artist, and a former member of Lun*na’s band, Jean Paul Yamamoto.
Tosh Berman
Tosh Berman is a writer, publisher, and Lun*na’s husband.
Claudia Bohn-Spector
Claudia Bohn-Spector is an independent scholar and curator in Los Angeles with a doctorate in art history from the University of Munich, Germany. As a specialist in American art and culture she has organized numerous fine art exhibitions including Wallace Berman and Lun*na’s exhibition.
Lance Rock
Lance Robertson, aka "DJ Lance Rock", is Performer, Proponent and Promoter of Positivity, musician and actor best known for the Nick Jr. shows Yo Gabba Gabba! He is also a former member of Lun*na’s band, Jean Paul Yamamoto.
Kristine McKenna
Kristine McKenna is an American journalist, critic, and art curator best known for her interviews with artists, writers, thinkers, filmmakers, and musicians.
Robert Greene
Robert Greene is an American author who has written six international bestsellers: The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law (with rapper 50 Cent), Mastery, and The Laws of Human Nature.
Sparks
Sparks are an American pop-rock duo, formed by brothers Ron and Russell Mael. Their music is characterized by sophisticated and acerbic lyrics, often about women or Shakespearean literature references, delivered with an idiosyncratic, theatrical stage presence.
Anna Biller
Anna Biller is a writer and director who creates unique, female-focused, highly visual films such as VIVA and The Love Witch, and more.
Jared Sanford
Jared Sanford is an actor and producer, known for Viva, The Love Witch, and The Hypnotist and he is a fashion model too.
Auralynn Nguyen
Auralynn is a Sogetsu Ikebana Artist and she has been modeling for Lun*na's fashion shows.
Vanessa Gonzalez
Vanessa is an event coordinator and creative director, actress, and model. She is super gorgeous and smart.
Relah Eckstein
Relah is an indie filmmaker and old friend of Tosh and Lun*na’s.
ADULT.
ADULT., Nicola and Adam are artists and musicians. They integrate vocals with drum machines, analog synthesizers, and electronic/punk elements.
They stayed with Lun*na in Japan for an art project.
Amore Hirosuke
Amore is an old friend of Lun*na and he is a visual artist who created "Who is Lun*na Menoh?" 's title art.
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LUN*NA MENOH’S WORK
