It's not easy making indie movies in Japan. The big studios only want commercial projects with proven fan appeal, usually based on hit manga, novels or TV dramas. Given the need, government funding schemes are paltry, with much of the money going to films about safe, uncontroversial subjects.
"Lowlife Love" ("Gesu no Ai"), Eiji Uchida's 2015 black comedy set in the depths of the Japanese film industry, features some of the dodgier fund-raising methods indie filmmakers here have been known to use, from churning out porn for gangster clients to running an acting school for naive no-hopes.
What "Lowlife Love" doesn't mention, however, is crowdfunding, which the film's British producer, Adam Torel, used to raise nearly ¥1 million from 126 backers on the Kickstarter site. "It's still easier to do this in the U.K. and the rest of the West than in Japan," Torel says, citing local unfamiliarity with the method as a reason for its omission in the film. To get fans interested, Torel tried to be creative with the incentives for donating, such as offering drinking sessions with the cast and crew. "We had people coming from all over Japan," he says with a smile. And the movie got made.
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