Biographical and Documentary

SUKITA / The Shoot Must Go On

SUKITA 刻まれたアーティストたちの一瞬

Directed by: Hiromi Aihara

Year: 2018

Length: 115 minutes

Classification rating: All

Screens in: Sydney and Melbourne

The one person David Bowie welcomed into his life with a camera

Screened as part of the JFF 2018.

“This is a committed artist, a brilliant artist, I would call him a master.” – David Bowie

Masayoshi Sukita has photographed some of the most iconic personalities in music and film, including those of David Bowie, Janis Joplin, and Shuji Terayama. His relationship with David Bowie, in particular, led to more than 40 years of collaboration with the legendary musician.

Growing up as a quiet and observant child, Sukita went to photography school in Osaka before heading to work in fashion and commercial photography in Tokyo at a time when pop art was taking over the world. Travelling to London on a personal mission to shoot photographs of T-REX (Marc Bolan), a chance encounter with an unusual concert poster led him to a David Bowie performance, back when Bowie was just on the rise.

Sukita has since photographed iconic rock musicians and concerts, moving between Japan, London and New York. But who is this quiet man behind the lens and how did he manage to capture photographs that have come to define pop culture throughout the decades?

Get to know the man behind the lens as he travels from England to his hometown of Fukuoka, and through interviews with his fans and collaborators, including Jim Jarmusch, Miyavi, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hirokazu Kore-eda.