<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I was directed to Junko Ogihara's piece
at the time and it was very helpful. Except that I wanted to know more,
especially after hearing some fascinating background to how the Pacific
Film Archive at Berkeley acquired its many of its post-war Japanese prints
as the Californian offices of the Japanese studios began to shut
in the 1970s. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">From what I have heard of the NFC story,
the seed of its collection were films confiscated in Japan in the post-war
period and taken back to the LoC, not from US local sources; but that is
anacdotal information and perhaps misunderstood from a conversation with
one of its curators. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Roger, to answer your question: very
small, a few thousand concentrated around the Northern Australian Pearl
Fishing industry centres of Broome and the Torres Strait Islands. One of
the sub-plots of the Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919 was Australia's
then very Prime Minister Billy Hughes protecting the White Australia Policy
and feuding with Woodrow Wilson over pressure from the Japanese (then allies,
of course) to allow Japanese emigration to the South Pacific. Shamefully,
all Japanese-Australians (including some born in Australia) were interned
and then forcibly repatriated back to Japan in around 1946. A few of these
families later returned in the 60s and there are still some curious community
links which surface from time to time, especially through intermarriage
with indigenous Australians. For example, Broome happens to have a long-standing
sister town relationship with Taiji south of Osaka and its very mutlit-cultural
community was recently very badly divided over the blow-back from THE COVE
and the current Antarctic Ocean whaling 'wars'. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Has any research been done on Latin-American
Japanese diasporic screen culture? In Spanish? Also of interest might be
Japanese homeland cinema films about the disapora. I have heard a little
of the pre-WW2 campaigns encouraging emigration to South America and potentially
even to British colonial SE Asia and the Pacific; Wasn't there a 1930s
national policy promoting emigration to the Southern Hemisphere, with a
title that translates as something like "Under the Southern Cross"?</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">As a slight aside to all this: I remember
being slack-jawed when I first saw the NFC's print of the 1912 Nobu Shirase
Antarctic Expedition Film and its scenes of the arrival home of the expedition
vessel to Yokohama. Shirase's party are greeted by crowds waving +-shaped
Southern Cross flags. The signification was completely bewildering: to
an Australian the flags were identical to ones most here assume are exclusively
the 'Eureka' flag, of Australia's traditional nationalist (and very Japanese-phobic)
19th c independance movement. Only later did someone who knew a little
of Japanese emigration history suggest that the Southern Cross flag might
have a very different meaning in early 20th century Japan. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Quentin Turnour, Programmer, <br>
Access, Research and Development<br>
National Film and Sound Archive, Australia<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
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<td width=40%><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><b>"Roger Macy"
<macyroger@yahoo.co.uk></b> </font>
<br><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Sent by: owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</font>
<p><font size=1 face="sans-serif">09/02/2010 12:56 AM</font>
<table border>
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<td bgcolor=white>
<div align=center><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Please respond to<br>
KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</font></div></table>
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<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">To</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu></font>
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<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">cc</font></div>
<td>
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<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Subject</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Re: question regarding early archives
and Japanese film</font></table>
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<br>
<br><font size=3 face="Arial">The main account on West Coast Japanese cinema
circuits of the period still seems to be <i>The Exhibition of Films for
Japanese Americans in Los Angeles During the Silent Era</i> by Junko Ogihara,
1990 in <i>Film History </i>4: pp81-87. I seem to recall that Junko
herself was able to answer a similar query on this list a few years back.
I would love to hear that more work had been done. We are talking
of California !</font>
<br><font size=3> </font>
<br><font size=3 face="Arial">The literature persistently refers to 'captured
Japanese films'. But, as Markus has raised, captured from whom, when
and where ? The numerous accounts I have read on Capra's outfit
just refer to the films' arriving. Rotha, in his appendix to the
1952 (3rd edtn.) <i>The Documentary Film</i>, gives an account of Iris
Barry (she, again) as the central figure, providing much information to
him, and it is possible that a trawl of the Rotha papers might pull something
in. But given the total lack of Asian focus of either writer, and
that I haven't had a sniff of Japanese films coming through New York, it
hasn't seemed worth a transatlantic trip to prove another negative. In
the brief time I had at the National Archives in Washington, it didn't
seem difficult to find inventories and correspondence on captured German
and Italian films, but I drew a blank on the provenance of Japanese films.
They appeared very soon after Pearl Harbor, when the allies were
far from capturing or liberating any Japanese-held territories. Some
may have acquired from hastily-abandoned Japanese institutions in the west,
but I have seen no evidence that such organisations were propagating or
widely exhibiting information films, let alone feature films. </font>
<br><font size=3> </font>
<br><font size=3 face="Arial">So does 'captured' mean 'not paid for' ?
Were some, or most of these confiscated from Americans who entered
camps ? I suppose it would matter whether the films were rented,
or owned outright by their contemporary holders, as to a fair categorisation.
Impounded or looted ?</font>
<br><font size=3> </font>
<br><font size=3 face="Arial">And the other U.S place to do research is
Hawaii ...</font>
<br><font size=3> </font>
<br><font size=3 face="Arial">Quentin, I am inferring from your posting
that there was no pre-war Japanese-Australian community. But has
<u>anyone</u> looked at the possibility of Japanese film exhibition in
South America ?</font>
<br><font size=3> </font>
<br><font size=3 face="Arial">Roger</font>
<br><font size=3> </font>
<br><font size=3> </font>
<br><font size=3>----- Original Message ----- </font>
<br><font size=3><b>From:</b> </font><a href=mailto:Quentin.Turnour@nfsa.gov.au><font size=3 color=blue><u>Quentin
Turnour</u></font></a><font size=3> </font>
<br><font size=3><b>To:</b> </font><a href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu"><font size=3 color=blue><u>KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</u></font></a><font size=3>
</font>
<br><font size=3><b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 08, 2010 7:56 AM</font>
<br><font size=3><b>Subject:</b> Re: question regarding early archives
and Japanese film</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
How established was the US West Coast Japanese cinema circuit before the
War? Were prints come in via that and staying in the US - and who outside
of the Japanese-American community was seeing them pre-1941 - or afterwards?</font><font size=3>
<br>
</font><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
I remember asking a few US film archivists and historians about this some
years ago, when I doing some research on extensive Greek, Italian (and
to a lesser extent Chinese ) immigrant cinema circuits that existed down
here and was curious about equivalent US migrant cinema circuits. I was
a bit surprised that (at least then) there didn't seem to be much of a
literature on this history. I could have not been looking in the right
places (this was in the early days of the Web) and wouldn't surprise me
if much more work had been done since. Be curious to know.</font><font size=3>
<br>
</font><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
Quentin Turnour, Programmer, <br>
Access, Research and Development<br>
National Film and Sound Archive, Australia<br>
<br>
<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
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<td width=37%><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><b>Mark Nornes <amnornes@umich.edu></b>
<br>
Sent by: owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</font><font size=3> </font>
<p><font size=1 face="sans-serif">08/02/2010 02:37 PM</font><font size=3>
</font>
<br>
<table border=4>
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<td bgcolor=white>
<div align=center><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Please respond to<br>
KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</font></div></table>
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<br>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">To</font></div>
<td width=90%><font size=1 face="sans-serif">"KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu"
<KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu></font><font size=3> </font>
<tr valign=top>
<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">cc</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Mark Nornes <amnornes@umich.edu></font><font size=3>
</font>
<tr valign=top>
<td>
<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Subject</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Re: question regarding early archives
and Japanese film</font></table>
<br>
<br>
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<td>
<td></table>
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<br><font size=3><br>
<br>
</font><font size=1><br>
Frank Capra and Ruth Benedict were watching Japanese feature films shortly
after Pearl Harbor. Where did the prints come from? It's an interesting
question. And as Roger indicates, the alternative universe where a powerful
programmer got behind Asian film could have altered the bedrock of "international
cinema" long before Rashomon.</font><font size=3> <br>
<br>
Markus <br>
<br>
On Feb 7, 2010, at 7:26 PM, Roger Macy wrote: <br>
</font><font size=3 face="Arial"><br>
Dear William,</font><font size=3> </font><font size=3 face="Arial"><br>
This is a crucial point that you have hit.</font><font size=3> </font><font size=3 face="Arial"><br>
Iris Barry is one of a very small number of people who, if they had any
Asian focus, would have radically changed the preserved landscape of film
history.</font><font size=3> </font><font size=3 face="Arial"><br>
Presumably like you, I found very little to go on at MoMA. So, I
followed the money to the Rockefeller Foundation. The short answer
is yes, its collection activities were limited to the United States and
Europe, including the Soviet Union, and there was no failed rescue attempt
for Japan. But there is a slightly longer story which is likely to
be told soon.</font><font size=3> </font><font size=3 face="Arial"><br>
Is there any chance we could meet at KinemaClub X ?</font><font size=3>
</font><font size=3 face="Arial"><br>
Roger</font><font size=3> </font><font size=2 face="Arial"><br>
----- Original Message -----</font><font size=3> </font><font size=2 face="Arial"><b><br>
From:</b> </font><a href=mailto:ReelDrew@aol.com><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>ReelDrew@aol.com</u></font></a><font size=3>
</font><font size=2 face="Arial"><b><br>
To:</b> </font><a href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu"><font size=2 color=blue face="Arial"><u>KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</u></font></a><font size=3>
</font><font size=2 face="Arial"><b><br>
Sent:</b> Sunday, February 07, 2010 10:52 PM</font><font size=3> </font><font size=2 face="Arial"><b><br>
Subject:</b> question regarding early archives and Japanese film</font><font size=3>
<br>
</font><font size=2 face="Arial"><br>
I am right now working on the final draft of my forthcoming book, "The
Last Silent Picture Show: Silent Films on American Screens in the 1930s."
Presently, I'm doing the revisions for a chapter on the archival
movement and the Museum of Modern Art in the '30s.</font><font size=3>
</font><font size=2 face="Arial"><br>
Relating this to Japanese film, I point out that MOMA in the Iris Barry
years (1935-1951) limited its collection of early cinema--and the programs
of early films it featured--to the historical development of filmmaking
in the United States, Western Europe and the Soviet Union. What I'd
like to find out from knowledgeable people here is does anyone know if
my information is accurate? Has anyone here, for example, seen any
correspondence or other documents indicating that Iris Barry was planning
a program on the history of Japanese cinema (and those of India and China
as well) in say, 1939 but that the outbreak of WWII halted this project?
Or am I correct in my assumption that the standard view of the historical
development of cinema in those days, as set forth at MOMA, completely omitted
the early contributions of Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, including
Japan?</font><font size=3> </font><font size=2 face="Arial"><br>
I should point out that in the 1930s and 1940s, the Museum of Modern Art
Film Library, contrary to Peter Decherney's tendentious assertions in "Hollywood
and the Culture Elite," was not a national film archive and, in fact,
many important areas in early American film history were neglected due
to Iris Barry's international focus. Many at the time, in fact, felt
it was her preoccupation with the European art film that caused her to
overlook so much of the American cinema. Or perhaps in fairness to
her, she was trying to balance America and Europe in the collection she
built up. However, what I think was clearly left out of the film
history programs established by Barry at MOMA was the entire historical
production of cinema in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America during
the first half of the 20th century.