WESTERN FRONT – I Am the Art NOBUO KUBOTA

Description:

In partnership with Powell Street Festival Society Western Front presented a screening of Annette Mangaard’s documentary I Am the Art NOBUO KUBOTA (2025) at The Cinematheque.

I Am the Art is a bold, yet intimate portrait of multidisciplinary artist Nobuo Kubota, a Japanese-Canadian trailblazer whose creative practice never stopped evolving. Over the course of his life, Kubota consistently pushed against convention, drawing from Japanese art and spiritual practices to shape a body of work spanning sculpture, painting, sound poetry, installation, film, avant-garde jazz, and live performance.

As a former student of Kubota's, Mangaard’s film not only presents a study of an artist at work, but a portrait grounded in trust and longstanding connection. The film moves fluidly between Kubota’s expansive creative life and the quieter, more intimate realities of his personal world—his experiences as a survivor of Japanese Canadian internment during the Second World War, and his devoted role as caregiver to his wife, Lee, who lived with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. Alongside observation of Kubota’s daily practices, the film features rare archival footage of his work with the Canadian Creative Music Collective and the Artists Jazz Band, as well as video performances made while in residence at Western Front in the 1990s.

The screening was introduced by Shaun Inouye and Kiel Torres and was followed by a conversation between filmmaker Annette Mangaard, and Vancouver-based artist Cindy Mochizuki. A Q&A period was facilitated by Vanessa Matsubara.

Presented in partnership with Powell Street Festival Society and The Cinematheque.

A man wearing a black baseball cap stands at a podium in a dimly lit theater speaking into a microphone. He stands in front of a projection and the screen includes the logos for Western Front and the Powell Street festival, along with the title I Am the Art NOBUO KUBOTA, Annette Mangaard, 2025. The Cinematheque’s website and address also appear in the projection.

A woman with shoulder length brown hair stands at a podium in a dimly lit theater speaking into a microphone. She stands in front of a projection and the screen shows the title of the film I Am the Art NOBUO KUBOTA, and the Cinematheque’s website.

The title card for I am the Art Nobuo Kubota appears on the screen in a cinema. The projection is a split screen image. The top half is asemic writing, black brush strokes mimicking writing on white backdrop. The bottom half has a red backdrop with a man covered in the asemic writing like a blanket with the title I am the ART NOBUO KUBOTA next to him.

A dark theatre lit by the projection of the film. The projection is of a man with his mouth open and with his arms held out to the side. In front of him are microphones, meditation bowls, wooden instruments, and drums. Behind him is a white projector screen, two blue chairs and a laptop with a sound interface.

A dark theatre lit by the projection of the film. The projection is of a man kneeling over a woman kissing her forehead. The woman is laying on a bed with navy sheets and laying her head on a white pillow with very sparse dots, and covered in a beige blanket with only her head exposed.

A dark theater lit by the projection of the film. The projection is a close up of a man holding a cone to his forehead. There are two stuffed animals in front of him. One is a black and white panda and the other is a brown dog. There is a gong and twisted copper metal hanging behind him.

A woman with glasses, shoulder length brown hair, a brown and black top and brown skirt stands at a podium in a dimly lit theater holding a microphone in her hands. Behind her is a sliver of the projected title and partners of the event.

A theater with a projection of the title screen for I am the Art Nobuo Kubota, with an image of a patio and an artwork that resembles a lavender bush behind the words. Two people sit under the projection for an artist talk, both are holding microphones and facing the audience. One person has black hair and is wearing a white shirt, the other has light brown hair and is wearing a grey colored sweater. You can just see the tips of the audience's heads peeking from the seats.

Two people with microphones sit in director chairs at the front of the theater with a table in between them holding water bottles. A woman with black hair, white shirt, and dark purple pants holds a microphone to her mouth. The other person has their back to the camera but we see their light brown hair, a grey sweater, brown pants and the microphone they are holding.

A woman with light brown hair, a grey sweater, brown pants and teal shoes sits in a directors chair holding a microphone to her mouth.

Two people with microphones sit in director chairs at the front of the theater with a table in between. A woman with black hair, white shirt, and dark purple pants holds the microphone close to her chest. The other person has light brown hair, a grey sweater,brown pants and is speaking into the microphone.

Related People

Captions:

Shaun Inouye at The Cinematheque, photo documentation, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Kiel Torres at The Cinematheque, photo documentation, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Annette Mangaard, screening of I Am the Art NOBUO KUBOTA (2025) at The Cinematheque, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Annette Mangaard, screening of I Am the Art NOBUO KUBOTA (2025) at The Cinematheque, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Annette Mangaard, screening of I Am the Art NOBUO KUBOTA (2025) at The Cinematheque, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Annette Mangaard, screening of I Am the Art NOBUO KUBOTA (2025) at The Cinematheque, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Vanessa Matsubara at The Cinematheque, photo documentation, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Cindy Mochizuki and Annette Mangaard at The Cinematheque, photo documentation, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Cindy Mochizuki and Annette Mangaard at The Cinematheque, photo documentation, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Annette Mangaard at The Cinematheque, photo documentation, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Cindy Mochizuki and Annette Mangaard at The Cinematheque, photo documentation, Apr 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.