Red Persimmons (E+J)

[Mark Nornes]

On Monday, February 23, 2004, at 04:57  PM, Aaron Gerow wrote:

> This may be the first film by Ogawa to ever be shown commercially in 
> the US (am I correct?)

Sorry about the previous post. I didn't see Aaron's until afterward.

The key word in his question is "commercially". Ogawa's films were 
shown widely during the Sanrizuka days.  But they were through print 
swaps and through organizations like Newsreel.  I don't think Newsreel 
itself was doing it. Rather, a journalist from SF went to Japan with 
prints of Black Panther and Columbia Revolt, etc. and brought back at 
least one Ogawa film. Eventually, a politically motivated company 
started distributing prints. The old Limbacher catalog ofr 16mm prints 
lists it, but the co is long gone.  I talk to many filmmakers and 
critics from that era that have seen "airport films", but not that many 
associate them with Ogawa.

Since then, JF has distributed prints for non profit showings. Film 
festivals have shown subsequent films and retrospectives.

But this is probably the first "commercial showing" in the conventional 
sense.

m