The following photographic-rich article is about documentary film entitled "World of Wonders" featuring Takeshi Yamada in Coney Island. The manuscript was produced by Dr. Eriko N. Bond, noted art critic and book author in New York City, as told by Takeshi Yamada. Photographs featured in this article were taken Michael Rossetti and his film crew.
 

 
Video Documentary
On December 2006 and January 2007, Takeshi Yamada was filmed by the crew of Michael Rossetti for his documentary film. Film was shot at Yamada's private museum ("Museum of World Wonders"), Coney Island Beach, and Coney Island Canal in Brooklyn, New York. The following are still shots from Rossetti's documentary film.
 
 

    The Historical Parachute Jump Tower at the Coney Island Beach quietly watches over Yamada.

 A Short Moment with Rossetti
When and how did you become interested in film?
When I was in high school I did a lot of photography; then during my junior year one of our teachers invested a lot of his own money to set up a digital media class.  Since it was brand new he didn't have much of a curriculum and basically let us experiment and do anything we wanted as long as we were working.  All the equipment was brand new, state-of-the-art pro-sumer digital video equipment so my friends and I just had fun making films and learning all this high-tech equipment.  During our senior year, two close friends and I decided to make a ?real? short film ? by which we meant something more than a 5 minute inside joke.  So for months we made this little film ? we wrote it, acted in it, directed it and shot it all ourselves.  At the end we submitted it to a festival, thinking we would never hear from them, but we ended up winning the festival.  When I went to the screening and heard people laughing and enjoying our film, and when I went up to receive the award and the money with my best friends, I knew it this was what I wanted to do for life.
 
Who is your favorite filmmaker?
I can't really say I have a favorite filmmaker ? the world of film is so varied.  But I like Werner Herzog, Tsai Ming-Liang, Wan Kar-Wai, Mikhail Kalatozov, Andrew Bujalski, to name a few.
 
What do you think of Coney Island?
I had heard of Coney Island before I came to New York, and I knew of its past as a major amusement park, but when I went there for the first time last summer it seemed to me that it had seen better days, and that the area was trying to hold on to a little of its lighthearted and fun-filled past. When I was shooting the film, Mr. Yamada took us to Coney Island Creek, which I found  kind of sad because it was extremely polluted and there was garbage everywhere.   
 
What inspired you to make a documentary on Takeshi Yamada?
I was assigned to do a short documentary for school and was on the lookout for potential subjects when I first read about him in an article in the Village Voice. The article was short and kind of unclear about who he was and what exactly he did, but I knew he seemed interesting.  I think having gone to Coney Island over the summer and experiencing the duality that exists there ? a rich history of amusement and fun among urban decay ? Mr. Yamada seemed like the embodiment of Coney Island's history and potential.  I came to New York with the very common view that the city was fully of eccentrics, and when I first read about him he perfectly fit my concept.  But of course I learned that he is much more than an eccentric artist.
 
What do you think of Yamada and his artworks?
I think they're great, honestly.  The quality of the work is really good and everything looks realistic.  In some of the interviews that we filmed (which don't appear in the current version of the film), Mr. Yamada made some interesting points about his work, with which I fully agree:  people are simply curious about the world, and nature is not always kind or beautiful.  It can be harsh and brutal, and seeing and experiencing this side of nature is part of life ? which is why people did (and still do) attend sideshows.  His work taps into that side of human nature and satisfies something primordial in us.  Then again, on another level, it's just fun to imagine that these fantastic creatures really do exist.
 
Are you planning more films about Coney Island and sideshow artists and performers?
At the moment I have several other projects in the works, but over the summer I would like to film a little more in that area.  After this summer Coney Island will be a very different place, and part of our job as filmmakers or, more specifically, as documentarians, is to capture the life, thoughts, opinions, etc. of a certain place, time or people.   
 
What was your goal in making the film?
When I first started filming, all I knew was that I wanted it to be about Mr. Yamada and his outrageous artworks.  But after I finished filming and started editing a lot of new ideas came to me.  In the footage he talked a lot about the history of sideshows, human nature, biology, taxidermy, but what always struck me was his interaction with the people in the community when he took his sea-rabbit out for a walk, so I focused on that.  The way that people open up, smile and laugh when they encounter Mr. Yamada and his sea-rabbit is really incredible. I think it says a lot about the community, about Coney Island's history, imagination, and human nature.
 
What kinds of films would you like to make in the future?
I really would like to make all kinds of films, but a friend of mine who is from Ethiopia is trying to develop more of a film industry there and I would like to work with him on that.
 
 
Media Coverage
 

                             CINECITY, newspaper, February 2007 issue, page 3

 
Reference:
Michael Rossetti's film ?World Wonders? will be shown at the Coney Island Library on the occasion of the new public art lecture by Takeshi Yamada on October 30, 2007 (4 ? 5pm). Rossetti is also planning to make a short public presentation on this occasion. His expanded version of ?World Wonders? film is scheduled to be shown local and international film festivals. For more information, contact Michael Rossetti at mwrossetti@gmail.com.
 
Crew:
Camera: Michael Rossetti and Katy Scoggin
Sound: Ryan Silbert and Laura Yilmaz
Editing: Michael Rossetti 
 
For more information about Takeshi Yamada's sideshow artworks (including his Sea Rabbit), see following website:
http://sideshowworld.com/SSA-15.html
http://www.roguetaxidermy.com/members_detail.php?id=528
http://takeshi.yamada.brooklynartist.com/
  
END
  
All rights reserved by Takeshi Yamada, June 2007. Photographs? copyright is by Michael Rossetti, March 2007.
 
Takeshi Yamada's Museum of World Wonders in Coney Island, USA
E-mail: yamada108@aol.com
 
Special thanks to Eriko N. Bond, Maremi Kakushina, Michael Rossetti, Ellen Hymowitz and Deborah Zingale.