Overview

An ensemble drama opens with the son of a celebrated actress staging his own play for his mother and her lover, a popular writer, at a lakeside home. The second FUGAKU installment adapts Chekhov’s The Seagull, condensing the three-hour play to forty minutes of dialogue and a minimal set. This sparing use of text and stage design highlights the actors’ presence and the energy of their interactions. Directed by Shinji Aoyama in collaboration with Tama Art University, this rarely-seen experimental three-part series (2012–2015) explores cinema as a dynamic, living medium. Combining student-led production with theatrical adaptation and meta-narrative devices, FUGAKU challenges conventional filmmaking while interrogating the boundaries between fiction, reality, and creative education.