Archival 2015 blog image of Luca and Gabriele Stifani in Tokyo beneath a red TOKYO title

From the Stifani Brothers archive · Tokyo, 2015

GABU–LUKA
A summer in Tokyo

GABU-LUKA -GAKA-がか

By Gabriele Stifani · · Archive edition

That summer, our work seemed to move between two roads: the desert highway behind Spielberg’s Duel and the busy streets of Tokyo.

We had meant to share more news. Instead, we were busy making things. In Italy, Ciak magazine published a photograph of us on the set of The Devil on Wheels (TDOW), the documentary project about the enduring fascination with Spielberg’s first feature. We were working with director Enrich Folch and producer Roger Allen; the magazine feature appeared alongside the Italian Blu-ray release of Duel.

Archival Ciak magazine spread about Duel, with a photograph of Luca and Gabriele Stifani on the right page
The Ciak magazine spread, preserved in our original 2015 blog post.

The road behind the film

TDOW had already been selected as an IndieWire project of the month. Its journey continued to Montréal, where the team brought it to the Frontières co-production market during the Fantasia International Film Festival. It was still a project in development: the excitement lay in meeting people who shared its obsession and seeing where the road might lead.

Complete CIAK clipping Un’ossessione italiana, with Luca and Gabriele Stifani on the TDOW set, the article and Kickstarter artwork
“Un’ossessione italiana”: Damiano Panattoni’s complete Ciak article, preserved in our original 2015 blog post.
Open the clipping at full size

Making images in Tokyo

In Japan, we joined the team at Empire Entertainment Japan on a run of video and motion-graphics work. Among the projects were an adidas Basketball film with Damian Lillard in Tokyo, a short introduction to the Empire Artists roster, and visuals for a large screen at Empire’s tenth-anniversary event. These collaborations challenged us to go beyond familiar post-production habits and find new ways of working together.

Group photograph of the Empire Entertainment Japan team in Tokyo
The Empire Entertainment Japan team, from our original 2015 blog archive.

We had come to Tokyo to film, but the city kept turning the camera back on us. Rai 2’s TG2 recorded a feature about our work and life there. The original video is below.

What stayed with us

Film has always sat beside our love of theatre and performance. That summer reminded us that a path can turn without losing its thread: a documentary road trip, a basketball shoot, a television interview and the possibility of making work on stage again all belonged to the same story.

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