Funky Forest – The First Contact combines 21 whacky short films which appear unrelated at first, but the lives of the characters soon intersect via an overarching story. In this collaborative effort, Ishii shares the roles of writing and directing with Shunichiro Miki and ANIKI. The story is about three dorky brothers, one of them a blonde Caucasian kid, who can’t find girlfriends. Masaru practices guitar and singing and Katsuichi practices Japanese traditional dancing to impress girls. Will they ever get the chance?
One of the animated segments makes you wonder if this is a statement for how the film was made. Anno, an animator in this film and in real life, tells Masaru about the director who actually is a dog, and uses a translator who should understand the doggie lingo. This translator writes out the script…. The three directors parody reality with a new twist in the omnibus genre.

Screenplay Katsuhito Ishii, Shunichiro Miki, ANIKI
Photography (colour) Hiroshi Machida, Kosuke Matsushima
Editing Katsuhito Ishii, Shunichiro Miki, ANIKI
Music ANIKI, Toru Midorikawa, Yoichi Suzuki, Seiji Tanaka, Haruo Nakajima, Eiko Sakurai
Sound Hirokazu Mori
Animazione / Animation Sushio, Ken Koike,
Cast Susumu Terajima, Tadanobu Asano, Ryo Kase, Machiko Ono
Production Norihisa Harada, Taichi Ito, Kazutoshi Wadakura
Year of production 2005
Running time 150’
Format 35 mm

Katsuhito Ishii

Born in 1966, he attended the Musashino Art University. In 1992 he debuted as commercials director. His feature debut Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (1998) and his second film Party 7 (2002) reached the top of the box office. In 2004 The Taste of Tea was the opening film of the Director's Fortnight in Cannes.

Shunichiro Miki

Born in 1968, graduated at the Musashino Art University. Miki is internationally awarded director for commercials. He does animation voice-overs and played 3 roles in The Taste of Tea.

ANIKI

Born in 1967, graduated at the Musashino Art University. He is an acclaimed commercials director. ANIKI is also music supervisor for The Taste of Tea.