Dating Films

Aaron Gerow gerow
Wed Jun 9 22:34:51 EDT 1999


HC wrote,

>Normally, the first date of commercial release would be 
>domestic release, but some recent Japanese films may be
>released overseas before their release in Japan.  A film
>may be screened in a film festival overseas and bought by
>some foreign distributors who release it prior to its
>premiere in Japan.  While the date of domestic release is
>often documented, the date of foreign release is harder to
>trace.  Hence, it seems that the copyright
>date is more precise and practical.

That might be true, but there are two practical problems with this.

First, I think there are only a handful of Japanese films that have ever 
been publicly released abroad before their public release in Japan (can 
people name some?  I think _Hana-Bi_ was released in France before Japan, 
but I may be wrong).  The original issue was one of being screened at 
festivals abroad or at home, but clearly that is not an example of an 
official release.

Second, the problem with using copyright to date Japanese films is that 
most Japanese films do not have a copyright designation on the print 
itself--this has only been a relatively recent practice.  I'm pretty sure 
no prewar films have them, and judging from a brief look at some tapes in 
my office, many postwar films do not.  For instance, the tape for 
_Gojira_ shows now copyright date on the print--the year is only given on 
the video tape version.

This comes, in part, from the fact that motion pictures only received 
clear protection under Japanese copyright law at a relatively late date 
(I don't have my notes with me, so I can't say precisely right now).

With no date or copyright year on the print itself, there is no means to 
date the film other than the release date.

For these reasons, I still think the release date is still the best 
practical means for dating films for most of the history of Japanese 
cinema.

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171





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