Self Introduction

[stephen cremin]

Dear All,

My name is Stephen Cremin.  I'm based in London although I'm currently 
in Japan for the Tokyo International Film Festival having just come from 
the Pusan International Film Festival in Korea.  In early 1997 I founded 
a company called The Asian Film Library with the intention of publishing 
a series of bilingual?@publications on Asian film in an attempt of in 
some way "democratising" access to information on Asian cinema.  The 
first book, "The Asian Film Library Reference to Japanese Film" was 
published in March this year over two volumes detailing 2259 films and 
3335 people working in the Japanese film industry: actors, directors, 
scriptwriters, original authors, directors of photography, production 
designers, composers, editors and producers.

In May my company organised the London Pan-Asian Film Festival at the 
ICA and Lux Cinemas in London.  The underlying theme of the festival was 
the modern city with a particular focus in the opening and closing galas 
on the value of money with Iwai Shunji's "Swallowtail Butterfly" and 
Harada Masato's "Bounce-ko Gals".  The other Japanese features were Suwa 
Nobuhiro's "2/Duo" and Aoyama Shinji's "An Obsession".  In addition 
there were nine Korean films including a retrospective of Kim Ki-Young, 
plus one film each from Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam.  Guests in 
attendance included Iwai Shunji, Park Chul-Soo and Penek Ratanaruang.  
If anybody would like a programme brochure I can send one via airmail.

More recently, my company has begun to distribute films, holding the 
international premiere of Iwai Shunji's "April Story" in London at the 
end of August before screening it for one week at the ICA Cinema.  Iwai 
and Matsu Takako, the lead actress, introduced a gala screening.  Iwai 
is a director who is difficult to establish internationally because he 
doesn't fit into the very masculinised Asian cinema that critics in the 
West tend to support.  The intention is to continue to distribute his 
work next year, while also trying to experiment with the distribution of 
Korean film.

But the main work of my company remains one of documentation: whether on 
experiments in new ways of distribution which reflect the changing 
models of production in Asia, or a CD-ROM on Japanese film, or a 
catalogue around a retrospective in next year's London Pan-Asian Film 
Festival.  My main interests are Japanese and Korean film, but I'm also 
interested in the direction of Asian cinema generally and how the 
concept of "Asian" is becoming more attractive within Asia as a cultural 
identity.

Best regard,

Stephen Cremin

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