„Half of my brain has been replaced, and I am a machine.“
The renowned Japanese horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa presents a new film, Chime – and you can only watch it with an NFT.
The Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is internationally known for his sophisticated horror films, such as “Cure,” “Pulse,” “Loft,” “Penance,” and others. His movies are considered innovative and artistic, bridging the gap between horror and art. Kurosawa refuses to rationalize his films, even within the logic of horror.
His latest film, “Chime,” was premiered in February at the Berlinale. It tells the story of a culinary student who hears chimes in his head and claims that part of his brain has been replaced by a machine. He tries to prove this to his teacher using drastic means.
Kurosawa explains that the film should “shock the audience and leave them with a strong sense of fear. Nothing that is necessary in normal stories is explained, and it doesn’t fit into genres like horror. The aim of this work is to be a crazy film, a film that is not of this world.”
What’s most important for us, however, is that „Chime“ cannot be watched in theaters, on Netflix, Disney, or Amazon – but exclusively on Roadstead, a Japanese „DVT“ platform. DVT stands for „Digital Video Trading“: Roadstead aims to treat „video works not as ephemeral content for consumption, but as assets worth collecting.“
Videos on Roadstead are tokenized as NFTs on the “Flow” (FLOW) blockchain. Every video is unique thanks to a serial number, and users can not only watch and enjoy the works but also collect, trade, or gift them – just like in the good old semi-digital era of CDs and VHS tapes.
Chime is the first and so far the only film on Roadstead. The procedure is relatively conventional: to buy, rent, or lease a film, you must deposit Yen via bank transfer.
I registered an account as a test, hoping that the platform would deliver on its promise and bring the Web3 user experience to video trading. However, I found it rather complicated and cumbersome to use. It’s much easier to trade large sums on Uniswap than to watch a film on Roadstead.
Chime is not the first movie to experiment with NFTs. Back in 2021, the creators of the series “Stoner Cats” – a cartoon about stoned cats – funded the production with NFTs. However, this led to a lawsuit by the SEC last year, accusing the producers of raising eight million dollars through the unlicensed sale of a security.
One can only hope that things go better for Kurosawa with “Chime,” and that Roadstead succeeds in tapping into the potential that NFTs could have for the film industry, especially for films outside the blockbuster realm.