Eigei Best Ten Worst Ten 2005

[Tom Mes]

Last year's fusion of Unijapan and the TIFF organisation hasn't made me any 
more optimistic about the fate of independent film in Japan, so this foreign 
journalists' poll sounds like an excellent idea to me. I'd be happy to have 
Midnight Eye play whatever role it can. Getting in touch with correspondents 
from various countries also shouldn't be too big a problem.

Whether this will have any effect at all on the majors, tough, is another 
matter. I assume they are already more than aware that the rest of the world 
cares very little for a Lorelei or a Genji: Thousand Years of Love. It might 
make them just that little bit more adamant to keep pushing their own 
crud...

Tom


>Seriously, this would be something interesting to explore, especially since 
>the industry, under government prodding, is thinking a bit more about the 
>foreign market. Since there is no "Foreign Film Journalists Association" in 
>Japan, it is not clear who would be umbrella organization for this. Kinema 
>Club? Maybe, though for this to have any effect (and not just be a joke), 
>it would have to have standards regarding who could vote, as well as means 
>to publicize this. Perhaps the Midnight Eye people could sponsor this, 
>getting in touch with the people who write for Variety, Le Monde and other 
>organizations that have people who regularly review Japanese films. It 
>could just be a poll like KineJun and Eigei, but it would be an alternative 
>voice in the awards world.
>
>Aaron Gerow
>KineJapan owner
>
>Assistant Professor
>Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
>Yale University
>
>For list commands, send "information kinejapan" to
>listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html
>