Booking Japanese films in 35mm

[Christine Marran]

When I showed a 1960s film Japan film series at Princeton, I was able to 
borrow a number of films through Japan Foundation.  But I have to say 
that getting the rights to show the film from various film studios -- 
paying the royalty fees -- was a bit of a pain.  Have you found an easy 
way to do that Markus? I suppose once you have the contact person, the 
second time round wouldn't be so time-consuming...
Christine

Mark Nornes wrote:

> Dear Matthew,
>
> It's not exactly cheap, but there is a one-stop solution: The Japan 
> Foundation.
>
> They have a very large collection of subtitled films, on both 16mm and 
> 35mm. They are just fine to work with with one exception. They won't 
> show you their list.  Over the years, there's been discussion on 
> KineJapan about creating an informal list so people have some sense 
> for the contours.  Lacking that list, you simply give them a wish list 
> and they tell you what they've got.  Then they give you the contact 
> for the rights holder, and once you clear that they'll ship the print 
> to you.
>
> In general, the prices are reasonable. You just have to plan to pay 
> more for shipping, and the extra step for the rights.
>
> At Michigan, we still show film on film. We can do this only because 
> the Japan Foundation makes it relatively easy.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Markus
>
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, February 2, 2004, at 10:54  PM, bernst_m at bellsouth.net wrote:
>
>> I may have asked this last year and if so, apologies.
>>
>> I find it virtually impossible to find classic or recent Japanese film
>> titles available in 35mm
>> to show on my college campus.  Between distributor disinterest, lack of
>> prints, difficulties of
>> locating rights holders, it's a lot of work.
>>
>> Can anyone suggest any websites / clearing houses or specialty 
>> distributors
>> that facilitate this process?
>>
>> I'm looking to program three or so films, perhaps on one of the following
>> themes:
>>
>> the 150th anniversary of US-Japan relations (perhaps one from different
>> periods--Meiji, Edo, Showa)
>> documentaries
>> japanese traditional stories or myths
>> traditional japanese arts (tea ceremony, martial arts, kabuki, etc.)
>> animation
>>
>> But I'm not tied to these themes at all.
>>
>> Any information / advice would be most, most appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Matthew Bernstein
>>
>
>
> .
>