<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2963" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Although they both fall slightly outside the
historical period you've specified, I would definitely try to track
down two documentaries about Kyoto by major feature film-makers: Kon
Ichikawa's "Kyoto" (1969) and Nagisa Oshima's "Kyoto, My Mother's Place"
(1991). Neither of them is especially easy to locate, but they both seem
very relevant to your thesis topic (you can probably see them at the
Yamagata Documentary Film Library). Another film that's very much worth
looking at in this context is Toshio Matsumoto's "Nishijin" (1961), which is
available on DVD in Japan as part of the 4-disc box set of his short
films.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Richard</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=a_p_jacoby@yahoo.co.uk href="mailto:a_p_jacoby@yahoo.co.uk">Alexander
Jacoby</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 19, 2006 7:09
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Kyoto on Film, 1945-1964</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Dear All,<BR><BR>To move us away from the curious
stream-of-consciousness messages that have lately assaulted KineJapan, let me
ask a simple, sensible question.<BR><BR>I am currently starting my PHD,
supervised by KineJapan member Alastair Phillips. My thesis will focus on
representations of Kyoto in the two decades after the war. The starting point
is obviously 1945; the end is a bit more malleable, as there is no comparably
earth-shaking event in the sixties; but 1964, when Japan was admitted to the
OECD, hosted the Olympics and opened the shinkansen, seems a fairly sensible
finishing date. I'm intending to focus on the way that images of Kyoto in film
express the changing attitudes of the Japanese to their own cultural
traditions as their country modernised. <BR><BR>I'm looking, therefore, for
films made during that period, and set in Kyoto. They need to be films where
the Kyoto setting is significant: for instance, Rashomon is set at the main
gate of a Kyoto temple, but I'm not convinced it's really a film "about
Kyoto". On the other hand, Yoshimura's geisha film, Clothes of Deception, is
very clearly a film whose central concern is with Kyoto culture and what the
city means as a repository of Japanese cultural traditions which were then
being challenged in the rush to modernisation.<BR><BR>I'm interested in both
gendai-geki and jidai-geki, and welcome all suggestions of titles. The films
also don't have to be set wholly in Kyoto - films with sequences there, such
as Gosho's Hunting Rival and Oba's Homecoming, can be useful and interesting.
Films that I am already thinking about and which will be central to my thesis
include:<BR><BR>Several by Mizoguchi, including Gion Bayashi and The Life of
Oharu<BR>Ozu's Late Spring and The Munekata Sisters<BR>Several by Yoshimura
(Clothes of Deception, Sisters of Nishijin, Yoru no Kawa, Onna no
Saka)<BR>Inagaki's Geisha in the Old City<BR>Ichikawa's Enjo and The
Key<BR>Tasaka's House in the Quarter and Lake of Tears (the latter is 1966,
but may still be relevant).<BR>Nakamura's Koto<BR><BR>These are mostly
gendai-geki, so some significant jidai-geki would be especially useful. If the
films are available subtitled somewhere, it would be nice to know where. If
only unsubtitled, it would still be nice to know
where!<BR><BR>Best,<BR><BR>ALEX<BR>
<P>Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
</P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>