AW: self-introduction & question

[Roland Domenig]

At least "China: Massacre in Nanjing" and "Don’t Cry, Nanking" have been released in Japan – the former under the title "Nankin chi no akasu" in 1995, the latter under the title "Nankin 1937" in 1998. "Black Sun: The Nanjing Massacre" is sceduled to be released on DVD this month (December 22) and the DVD announcement states that this will be the first release in Japan. 
Of the three films "Don’t Cry, Nanking" certainly got the most attention, since it was released at about the same time the revisionistic film "Pride" hit the cinemas. Both films were diametrically opposed and both caused heated controversies. The campaign against "Don’t Cry, Nanking" reached its climax on June 6, 1998, when a Japanese right wing slashed the screen of the Yokohama cinema that was showing the film. A similar incident had happened  11 years earlier with Hara Kazuo’s documentary "Yuki Yukite Shingun". 
Kimata Junji, the manager of the Nagoya based Cinema Skhole (which by the way is owned by "left wing" director Wakamatsu Koji), gives a vivid and detailed account of the reception of "Don’t Cry, Nanking" in the film magazine Eiga Geijutsu Nr.386 (Winter 1998) which features a tokushu dedicated to the films "Pride" and "Don’t Cry, Nanking". There you will find more about the Japanese reaction to the film. 
A film you should also look for is Matsui Minoru's "Riben guizi" (2001). In this documentary former soldiers of the Imperial Army tell about the indiscriminate murders, rapes, tortures and other crimes they commited in China (including Nanking). The Japanese distributor of the film, Image Forum, feared another assault of the right wing and contracted a special insuance for their screen, but their fears turned out to be unjustified. They got some threats, but nothing serious happened. 

Roland Domenig
Institute of East Asian Studies
Vienna University



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu im Auftrag von Silke Harbodt
Gesendet: Fr 08.12.2006 13:32
An: kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Betreff: self-introduction & question
 
Hi,

my name is Silke Harbodt,
I'm a student at University Leipzig
in Leipzig, Germany.
I'm working on a thesis about the cinematic representation of the Nanking massacre in Japan right now.

I know there've been three movies produced and shown in China: Massacre in Nanjing (Luo Guanqun, 1987), Black Sun: The Nanjing Massacre (T.F. Mou, 1995) and Don't cry, Nanking (Wu Ziniu, 1995). What I'm interested in now is, if these films have been shown in Japan as well, and if so, how the reactions of the public, government etc. looked like and how the films were reviewed.

I'm glad about any kind of information.

Thanks a lot,
Silke
-- 
"Ein Herz für Kinder" - Ihre Spende hilft! Aktion: www.deutschlandsegelt.de
Unser Dankeschön: Ihr Name auf dem Segel der 1. deutschen America's Cup-Yacht!



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