Films On / About Go
1) AlphaGo
Year: 2017
Source: Website/Trailer
Comment: This feature length documentary made by about the match between Lee Sedol
and AlphaGo in March 2016 is being released world wide in autumn 2017. "AlphaGo" is
also the title of a tune by Shanghai Restoration Project - YouTube.
2) The Surrounding Game
Year: 2017
Source: Website/Trailer
Comment: This feature length documentary made by US Go players Will Lockhart and Cole Pruitt
was released world wide in summer 2017 and was shown at the European Go Congress 2017.
3) Weiqi Wonders: Conversations About the Game of Go in China
Year: 2012
Source: Web page
Comment: In this 50 minute documentary anthropologist Marc L. Moskowitz interviews people in
China in settings ranging from children's schools to China's elite Beijing University to a park
where retired working class men gather to play, from child educators to those reminiscing about
their own youth during the Cultural Revolution. What emerges is a fascinating cultural study as
people discuss children's education, retirement, China forty years ago and today. "As Chinese
politics have changed over the last two millennia, so too has the imagery of the game,"
Moskowitz notes, "from a tool to seek religious enlightenment, to military metaphors, one of the
noble four arts, one of the condemned 'four olds', nationalism, transnationalism, historical
elitism, and futuristic hyper rationality."
The film is "witness to people's lives, ranging from university students to working class senior
citizens, professional players, people who gave up professional careers to become students,
and a range of others who all share a love for this extraordinary game." Available on DVD.
4) Go (Japanese Embassy)
Year: 1960 (circa)
Comment: An educational film about Go, quite old but still worthwhile to see.
5) Go Basics (American Ing Goe)
Year: 1995
Comment: From USA with Aan (Black) and Cliff (White). 14.30 minutes.
6) Go More Than a Game
Year: 1989
Source: Chip Taylor
Comment: Made for Chip Taylor Communications by Kathi Twomey Wahen and Liz Manning.
Running time 12 Minutes. Describes the importance of the game Go to Asian culture
and its increasing popularity in the United States.
7) Le Jeu de Go (The Game of Go)
Year: 1991
Source: YouTube
Comment: Promotional film made by Fred Donzet for the FFdG and lasts 8.44 minutes.
Shots of a busy Go club, stones being tipped on a board to music, art works,
how to play with stop action, scenes from the 1991 Paris Tournament, a couple playing
Go in a Japanese room and so on.
8) Go (American Go Association)
Year: ?
Source: (http://www.usgo.org/)
Comment: Go promotional film (made thanks to Hitachi).
9) Go Lessons (Italian Go Federation)
Year: 1999
Directed by: Paolo Montrasio
Produced by: FIGG (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Go)
Source: (http://www.freespeech.org/figg/)
Comment: Short streamline films with lessons for beginners,
the set was due to be completed in 2000 and consists of
several parts ranging from 5 to 10 minutes.
10) AGA Summer Camp
Year: 1999
Directed by: Jeff Shaevel
Produced by: Mopac Media for the American Go Association
Original music by: Brown, Bahler, Muhoberac and Zuker
Cinematography by: Kevin Triplett
Comment: High energy video promoting the AGA Summer Go Camp, a week-long event for children
5 to 17 years old that features professional instruction, tournament games and typical summer
camp activities. The video is 7 minutes long with images taken at the camp and voice over by
a "camper" reading her letter to "Mom and Dad" - features sound bites from campers and
counselors sprinkled throughout the video.
11) Hitachi & the AGA
Year: 1999
Produced by: Mopac Media for the American Go Association
Comment: Video made for the promotion of Go
12) Ing & the AGA
Year: 1999
Produced by: Mopac Media for the American Go Association
Comment: Video made for the promotion of Go
13) US Go Congress
Year: 2000
Produced by: Mopac Media for the American Go Association
Comment: Video made for the promotion of Go
14) EGF Go Congress Zagreb
Year: 2002
Directed by: Zoran Mutabzjia (?)
Produced by: Croatian IGo Alliance
Source: (http://www.european-go.org/egc2002)
Comment: Pictures, video clips and tournament results from Zagreb's 2002 EGC on CD-ROM and
2-hours VHS video tape.
15) Go Communication
Year: 2003
Produced by: Fureai Go Network
Cast: Shigeno Yuki, Yasuda Yasutoshi, Michael Marz
Comment: Film made to promote the work of Yasuda-sensei with
English Subtitles (24 mins).
16) 1 minute 2 Go
Year: 2011
Produced by: European Go and Cultural Centre
Cast: Marika Dubiel, William Wandell
Comment: An on going series of Go promotion films all 60 seconds long.
17) Une Honorable Partie de Go
Year: 1979
Comment: Documentary shown on French TV (20th March) that introduced
the game to many from France and Belgium. It looked at the game's
relationship with oriental warfare and history.
18) Graines de Champions
Year: 2010
Source: FFdeGo
Comment: Another of Frederick Donzet's 15 films for the French Go Federation.
A 20 minutes documentary, made over five years, about Thomas Debarre and
Antoine Fenech.
19) The Album Leaf - Within Dreams
Year: 2012
Source: YouTube
Comment: This short video (Tourne en un apres-midi), made for a university project by
French 3d Pierre Bellanger, features a romance between a girl who studies Go on a park
table and a footballing boy who is intrigued by what she is doing. The music played
over the top is as the title.
Advertising / Commercials
1) Chinese Advert
Year: 199?
Comment: A Chinese advert for a liquor, in which, after drinking, the main character plays a move
to show "spirit".
2) Promo for the Channel
Year: 2003
Produced by: CCNTV
Comment: On CCNTV9 (the English language edition of the Chinese state TV channel). In a
brief "jingle" a Go board is seen many times. (11th March roughly at 07:30)
3) Domino's Pizza
Year: 2009
Source: YouTube
Comment: An actor playing "Rick Rossner World's Smartest Man", IQ 200, (and looking like the
world's real most intelligent man, Rick Rosner) sits with a boy at a white table and chairs with
his sandwich. He had has presumably just beaten the boy at Go, as the boy (an average fifth
grader, IQ 100) sweeps the stones off the board.
4) X-Box Kinect
Year: 2011
Comment: A mini Go ban with bowls is visible on a table in the first scene of this ad, showing a
couple sitting on a sofa in their lounge.
5) Daum Mobile Phone
Year: 2013
Source: YouTube
Comment: This Korean ad features a young Go addict who cannot sleep and is restless in life as
he relies on using the elevator doors in his apartment block to mark out games in pen in between
real games. His mind is put at rest by the friendly janitor who recommends the smart phone,
presumably with Go apps.
6) Daum Mobile Phone
Year: 2013
Source: YouTube
Comment: This Korean ad in the same series as the previous one includes graphics of cartoon
people standing on a Go ban and shots of the young man playing at a table board with bowls.
6) Candy Crush Soda
Year: 2015
Source: YouTube
Comment: This Korean ad shows Cho Hunhyun 9p sitting in a Baduk Club with games going on in
the background. He is concentrating hard and reaches out with his Go-playing fingers, but then
reveals he is playing Candy Crush on his phone and is pleased by the winning move he makes.
Trivia
A) Japanese girl rock band Band-Maid feature a quick shot of a Go board in the video for their
2018 song Domination. There are various quick shots of games, such as dice, cards and a
game a bit like Monopoly, as will as a hand placing a Go stone at1:06 in.
Source: YouTube
B) K-Pop band GFriend appear in a video of their 2017 song "Love Whisper" dancing in a Korean
Baduk club. The players of Jingwu Kiwon, near Seoul, ignore the dancers and concentrate on
their games. However some of the close-up shots are of 5-in-a-Row and some of the girls can
be seen playing this at the end.
Source: YouTube
C) French pop-rock group OmEgA in their 2012 song video "Au Couer Des Limbes" features Go
heavily. We see a Go board leaning against the drums with stones stuck to it, the lead singer
(dressed in black playing White) playing a young lady (dressed in white playing Black) with him
banging the board, and spinning Go stone graphics and so on.
Source: YouTube
D) The film "Topsy-Turvy" (1999) about the famous operetta authors Gilbert and Sullivan, which won
two Oscars, briefly features not Go, but a Go player from our London clubs. He is Tokumi Ayzen
(Takahashi). He is the Japanese calligrapher inside the Liberty's exhibition and speaks just one
line (in Japanese: "I don't understand English"). Ayzen-san is 3-dan and is a well known artist
by profession.
Source: IMDB
E) The actor Michael Culver is a British Go player who holds the rank of 1-dan. He played the role of
Captain Needa in "Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back". Lorth Needa was captain of the star
destroyer Avenger in the Battle of Hoth, and was killed after apologising to Darth Vader for
allowing Han Solo's Millennium Falcon to (as he thought) escape. Once, in a BBC period flying drama
called "Squadron", he played an RAF officer. He had to read a magazine and selected a copy of
"Go Review" and in another had to carry a book around, he made sure that he carried a copy of
one of the Ishida Dictionaries. He is believed to be seen playing Go in the TV drama "Diamonds".
F) Go often features in questions in TV quiz shows. On 5th June 2002 on US quiz show "Jeopardy",
under the category 'Two Letter Words' they showed a short video clip of a pair of staff playing Go,
described as a Japanese game, which was easily answered by one of the contestants. The brief
view of the game was enough to determine that it was not a real game played, merely a few
formations of stones. It was also the topic of a round on 13th December 2010 with questions on
its origin, rules and terminology.
In the UK there have been questions on "The Weakest Link", "Mastermind", "15 to 1", "Eggheads",
"Only Connect" and "University Challenge".
One of the quiz experts on "Eggheads" is Barry Simmons who is 1 kyu and his son Mark was youth
champion when at school.
G) On BBC News, 31st July 2002: A story about the Hikaru no Go craze among Japanese children.
It shows lots of children playing and interviews one who plays Go as well as video games. It
shows the Hikaru books and clips of the anime and features an interview with Umezawa Yukari,
the Go consultant for the series.
Source: YouTube
H) In a news programme on Italian State TV (third channel, 2002): Mediamente (RAI3 8:35-9:05),
inside an item about strategy games on internet there was a brief mention about Go. Yahoo games
was briefly shown, and a Go board with some stones on it.
I) BBC's weeknight current affairs program "Newsnight" presented a special edition on the Chinese
economy on 18th February 2010. The graphics in the studio featured Go games, reporters were
seen seated at Go bans and graphics showed Go stones with images of flags or world leaders
pictured on them.
J) Various documentaries from time use Go stone and board graphics as visual tools to explain some
scientific concept, such as Conway's Game of Life or in 2018 entropy on PSB's "SpaceTime".
K) On UK's Channel 4 show "Countdown" on 5th, 6th and 9th May 2011, contestant Tony Atkins is
introduced as the Secretary of the EGF, and Go and the WMSG 2008 get mentioned.
L) Rhubarb the Clown (aka Martin Solity 5k) appeared on ITV's "Midsommer Murders"
on 14th January 2020. In circus-themed episode 6 of series 20, "Send in the Clowns",
Rhubarb is one of three clowns seen in the last scene of the episode.
M) One of the interviewees in the 2020 documentary "Beyong the Visible: Hilma af Klint",
about the Swedish artist, has a Go board and bowls in their room.
Last updated Mon Oct 12 2020. If you have any comments, please email the webmaster on web-master AT britgo DOT org.