Movie premiere featuring McIntosh and residents this Saturday

A film debut is coming to the Fosston Theater on Saturday, August 19th at 4:00 pm. Mr. Yanagi’s Aliens, a film made by 2 young filmmakers Alex Buysee and Aamuro Kanda.

Alex Buysee and Aamuro Kanda are recent graduates of the University of Southern California’s film program, where they met. They’re both Colorado natives with family ties to Minnesota (including McIntosh). The duo met about 5 years ago and have been roommates for the last 3 years; Alex is a full-time film editor whereas Aamuro has been focusing on cinematography and directing. 

Together, they have shot projects around the country and world, including a concert in Japan for the Grammy award winning artist Kitaro. To pay for this film, they have been taking a bunch of odd jobs and handyman services, who would’ve thought these two filmmakers would be splitting logs for a week up in the Northern Woods of the Upper Peninsula.

In brief, the movie is about Alex and Aamuro, two film school burnouts without many prospects. Seeing no future in their jobs as videographers for the local public access television station, they decide to bet everything on one final documentary before giving up on their dreams. 

The pair follow a lead about alien sightings in McIntosh, a small farming community in rural Minnesota. While interviewing residents, they team up with a veteran Japanese monster-movie director, Mr. Yanagi, who is also investigating the recent sightings. After managing to capture footage of an extraterrestrial encounter, the two encounter trouble and embark on an adventure that takes them across the world in order to finish the documentary.

The movie stars Alex Buysse, Aamuro Kanda, Dave Stordahl, Naoto Kanda and Kelly Austin. It is proudly Shot in McIntosh Minnesota, Minneapolis Minnesota, Marquette Michigan, Longmont Colorado, and Kyushu, Japan. There is no rating, though the movie does include some strong language and cartoon violence. The movie features original music by John Williams, Eric Jacobsen, Jackson Cloud and Kelly Austin, with additional music by Jack Sligh.

Many McIntosh residents are featured in the movie including, Roxanne Stordahl, Donna Larson, Wanda Kiefat Stordahl, Shirley Carver, Nathan Nelson, Ronald Roed, Bob Bursheim, Andrea Stordahl, Phil Lee, Bruce Haaven, Tom Hegg, Mic Evenson, Jim Lee, Dave Faldet, Virgil Lerfield, and Steve Carlson.

Mr. Yanagi’s Aliens stemmed from the idea of just going out and making something fun, sort of like the movies Alex and Aamuro would make when they were growing up. Alex would make Lego animations as a child, and Aamuro would make fun short films using his parents and friends. That same homemade spirit has translated over to their first feature film, Mr. Yanagi’s Aliens, which holds all the charms of true independent filmmaking, while being stuck together with duct tape and bubblegum. Those in McIntosh will certainly see some familiar faces.