FIAF Congress

[Mark Nornes]

Here are the Japan-related events on the FIAF Congress schedule.  
Looks like it was a fascinating, better than half of the entire  
schedule. Aaron, did you go to Tochigi-san's presentation on  
Copyright? It would be interesting to hear someone from the Film  
Center spelling out their policy.

Markus


Akira Tochigi  (National Film Center, Tokyo)
COPYRIGHT IN JAPAN

Copyright Act in Japan has certain uniqueness in terms of motion  
picture films: the copyright of a film work belongs to the producer,  
not to any other authors (so-called 'modern authors'), as far as the  
authors agree to participate in the production of the work; the  
protection period of the work is reckoned from the year following its  
first release, not the death of any authors.

With brief introduction of the Copyright Act, this presentation will  
focus on issues caused by such uniqueness as well as the difference  
between current laws and former laws, and the fair-use statute  
scarcely stipulated in the Act. The presentation will also cover the  
National Film Center's policy of programming of and access to its  
film collection in relation to the Copyright Act.

Takayuki Oguchi  (Scholar of Large Screen Film Formats)

LARGE SCREEN FILM FORMATS IN JAPAN

 From the 1970s to the 1990s in Japan, a series of world expositions  
was held, and many science museums and theme parks were built. The  
main attractions in these events and institutions were various kinds  
of large screen theaters with very unique equipments such as a  
gigantic screen showing eight Vistavision pictures at the same time,  
a dome for 3-D projection, a 360-degree spherical screen, all of  
which we could not find any equivalences in other countries.

However, most of the films screened in these theaters are no longer  
accessible and quite a few formats have disappeared. These systems  
require a combination of films, projectors and special theaters, and  
keeping the films is not enough for them to revive.

Judging from a historical point of view, on the other hand, these  
visual experiments should not be overlooked because many of the films  
were directed by prominent figures such as Kon Ichikawa, Hiroshi  
Teshigahara, Nobuhiko Obayashi and Mamoru Oshii.

This presentation will observe the present situation of study,  
research and preservation of these extraordinary formats in Japan.

15:05 - 15:30
Yoshiyuki Yahiro (The Fukuoka City Public Library Film Archive, Fukuoka)

PRESERVATION OF NARROW GAUGEFILMS IN JAPAN: A CASE STUDY OF 8MM FILMS

In Japan, narrow gauge films were popularized by the import of Pathé- 
Baby (9.5mm) in 1923, and then Kodak's 16mm and 8mm cameras which  
followed. As these cameras were expensive for ordinary families,  
shooting narrow gauge films was a hobby of the upper class. Major  
changes were brought about by the sales of less expensive cameras in  
super-8 and single-8 formats after World War II.

The spread of these machines enabled even college students to make  
movies easily, and the flourishing of amateur movie making gave birth  
to festivals specializing in 8mm films, which led to the production  
of many commercial filmmakers and avant-garde artists.

This presentation will offer a historical overview of narrow gauge  
films in Japan, and examine how rediscovery and preservation have  
been made for narrow gauge films which were forgotten in the  
mainstream history of cinema.

Session 2: Made in Japan

Sunday, April 8, 9:00-14:10
Chaired by Yoshiro Irie(National Film Center, Tokyo).

9:00 - 9:25
Fumiaki Itakura (National Film Center, Tokyo)
Natsuki Matsumoto (Film Collector /Historian)

PAPER FILM: HISTORY AND PRESERVATION

Screening paper film was one of the popular home entertainments in  
the middle of 1930s in Japan. Paper film has an original projection  
system: Each frame of a film strip is printed in offset process, and  
the reflection of an electric light against the paper film is  
projected on a screen. Although "Refcy" and "Kateito-ki-" were  
representative brand names of this system, most of the films and  
projectors have been lost. This presentation aims to locate the paper  
film within the history of world cinema and to investigate the  
optimum preservation method. Fumiaki Itakura's presentation will be  
followed by a screening of paper films operated by Natsuki Matsumoto.  
The technical data of the paper film is provided by Dai Nippon  
Printing Co., Ltd.

9:25 - 9:50
Natsuki Matsumoto (Film Collector/Historian)
Taiji Kozaki (Benshi Performer)

THE OLDEST ANIMATION IN JAPAN: DEMONSTRATING THE CULTURE OF HOME  
MAGIC LANTERN AND TOY FILM

Besides public screenings at theaters, private screenings of magic  
lantern and film at home undoubtedly played a significant role in  
diffusing film culture in Japan. Found in 35mm in Kyoto two years  
ago, a strip of 50 film frames, presumably Japan's oldest surviving  
animation, nicely exemplifies the fertility of early home  
entertainment and aptly illustrates the background of this culture.

With a projection of this film in tasuki (looped) style, the  
screening of toy films and the projection of home magic lanterns will  
be presented. This series of demonstrations will reconsider the  
history of film reception in Japan from a domestic point of view and  
propose 'an alternative history of film culture' which has been  
ignored by a 'legitimate' history of cinema and an authorized history  
of film industry.

9:50 - 10:15
Yoneo Ota (Osaka University of Arts, Osaka)

THE HISTORY OF TOY FILM IN JAPAN AND THE CHALLENGES OF ITS PRESERVATION

There was a time in which people enjoyed movie with a toy projector  
at home in Japan. The projector was no more than a tin toy, but it  
could project both fragments of 35 mm released prints sold by pieces  
and the films specially made for this toy machine.

The peak of this machine's popularity overlapped the golden age of  
Japanese silent cinema (1920s-1930s), in which chanbara (swordplay)  
films were at the height of prosperity. These films, though very  
short (20 seconds-3 minutes), can vividly tell the brisk air of the  
age. Toy film covers many genres from animation (toy film contributed  
to foster the industrialization of animation production) to newsreel  
to propaganda film called gunshin-mono (films about war god).

These fragments are the testimonies of the age and the precious  
historical materials which can fill up another side of film reception  
in Japan. This presentation will introduce the project of collecting  
and restoring toy film, begun by the Osaka University of Arts a few  
years ago, and the challenges this project has faced.

10:15 - 10:30 Break

10:30 - 10:55
Machiko Kusahara (Waseda University, Tokyo)

BABY TALKIE AND ITS ERA

Baby Talkie is a Japanese zoetrope made for enjoying animation  
accompanied with music. The iron zoetrope fits on the central part of  
a SP record on gramophone without disturbing its normal function to  
play music. Thus it offers a home "talkie" experience with one's  
favorite music. Strips include both traditional and 'Western' motifs  
such as Charlie Chaplin.

Some of them create three-dimensional illusion. This lecture- 
demonstration will show how this forgotten invention tried to connect  
cinema with music, and how juxtaposition of modern and traditional  
lifestyles of the era is reflected in its name and images.

10:55 - 11:10
Hidenori Okada (National Film Center, Tokyo)

RECYCLED MOTION PICTURE FILMS IN JAPAN

The history of manufacturing of motion picture film in Japan sees a  
small but unique business: recycling used films. Purchasing used  
positive prints both in 35mm and 16mm from film companies, the  
manufacturers washed film emulsion away and sold the emulsion to  
silver refiners. They then applied black and white emulsion on the  
remaining film base to reclaim.

The reclaimed films were used for low budget films from the 1930s,  
and were adopted mainly for newsreels after World War Two. As the  
demand of black and white films soured, the production decreased and  
the manufacturers shifted the recycling to leader films. Tracing the  
history of Takahashi Photo Film Laboratory, the former leading  
company in this field, which closed its factory (the last factory to  
reclaim films in Japan) in 2005, this presentation will excavate the  
technical aspect and historical significance of such a unique industry.

11:10 -11:35
Ayako Shiba (Scholar of Utsushi-e)

UTSUSHI-E (JAPANESE PHANTASMAGORIA):PRESERVING AND HANDING DOWN THE  
NATIONAL HERITAGE

A kind of magic lantern originated and developed in Japan, Utsushi-e  
flourished as a popular entertainment for about a hundred years from  
early 19th to the beginning of the 20th century.

The most characteristic difference of Utsushi-e from western lanterns  
lies in the use of plural hand-held projectors (called furo). Its  
style and themes are deeply rooted in the Japanese tradition of  
performing and narrative arts.

 From the 1950s to the 1980s, Ayako Shiba devoted herself to  
preservation of this disappearing entertainment with her father  
Genjiro Kobayashi by making researches on projectors and slides of  
Utsushi-e, and conducting interviews with almost forgotten Utshushi-e  
players.

This presentation will summarize the history of Utsushi-e and its  
preservation, and reexamine the problems and challenges the project  
of succeeding this national heritage has faced.

11:35 – 12:00
Discussion
Chaired by Yoshiro Irie.

12:00 – 13:30 Lunch Break

13:30 - 14:10
Special Presentation of Utsushi-e
Presented by Minwa-za
(Fumio Yamagata and Yuko Tanaka).

The presentation of Ayako Shiba will be supplemented by the  
performance of Utsushi-e by Minwa-za, one of the theatrical troupes  
which have made this traditional art accessible.

Special Public Screening
Sunday, April 8, 18:45-21:00 at Yurakucho Asahi Hall
(11th floor of Yurakucho Mullion Building, 15-minute walk from NFC  
Headquarters)

KURUTTA IPPEIJI
(A Page of Madness/A Disordered Page)Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa  
(1926, b/w, silent, 35mm, 79 minutes [18 fps], 1:1.33 [full- 
frame]);With piano accompaniment by Yuji Takahashi;Preserved and  
restored by National Film Center, Tokyo;
Lab work done by IMAGICA West Corp, Osaka.

Co-organized by The Asahi Shimbun Company in collaboration with  
IMAGICA West Corp and in cooperation with Pia Corporation, National  
Film Center is proud to present the world premiere of a newly  
restored version of KURUTTA IPPEIJI, which will be dedicated to FIAF  
and its colleagues who preserve and safeguard precious film culture  
of the world.

KURUTTA IPPEIJI, directed by young Teinosuke Kinugasa, represents the  
brilliant jewel of silent film art and "remains one of the most  
radical and challenging Japanese movies ever seen here" (Tony Rayns,  
Time Out Film Guide).

With piano accompaniment by Yuji Takahashi, arguably the most avant- 
garde composer and player of piano and electronic instruments in  
contemporary Japan, the premiere screening of this newly restored  
version from the best pre-print element will celebrate the 80th  
anniversary of its first release in 1926.

Prior to the screening, from 18:45 to 19:25, Eva Orbanz (President of  
FIAF) and Paolo Cherchi Usai (National Film and Sound Archive,  
Canberra) will have a panel "FIAF and the Future of Film Archives,"  
moderated by Hisashi Okajima (National Film Center, Tokyo).

Evening Screening Program
Saturday, April 7/Monday, April 9/Wednesday, April 11, 19:00-21:00 at  
Cinema 1, NFC

Scheduled every other evening during the congress, a series of  
screenings will showcase recent achievements of film restoration made  
by NFC and other film institutions in Japan such as Fukuoka City  
Library, The Museum of Kyoto, Kawasaki City Museum, Hiroshima City  
Cinematographic and Audio-visual Library, Film Preservation Society  
and Ritsumeikan University College of Image Arts and Sciences.

Archivists from the institutions will introduce their films. Plus a  
special screening with benshi performance (Japanese tradition of  
narration for silent film show) is planned in the program of April 11.

Screening Schedule
Saturday, April 7 19:00
(total running time: 85 minutes)

The Museum of Kyoto presents:
GION KOUTA EHIGASA: TANUKI DAIJIN
(A Ballad of the Gion, A Pictured Parasol: A Wealthy Raccoon, 1930,  
Makino Productions [Omuro Studio], directed by Bansho Kanamori) 35mm,  
b/w, 7 minutes [18 fps], silent. Digitally restored from the 9.5 film  
by the Museum of Kyoto.

Kawasaki City Museum presents:
HEIWA KINEN TOSHI: HIROSHIMA
(Hiroshima: Aiming at Peace Center, 1954, Naigai Eiga-sha, directed  
by Ken Akimoto) 35mm, b/w, 30 minutes, sound. Restored by Kawasaki  
City Museum.

The Fukuoka City Public Library FilmArchive presents:
BAKUDATTO-HIME
(The Princess of Baghdad, 1948, Sanko Eiga-sha, directed by Iwao  
Ashida) 35mm, b/w, 48 minutes, sound. Jointly restored by The Fukuoka  
City Publice Library Film Archive and National Film Center. A  
collection of National Film Center.

Monday, April 9 19:00
(total running time: 95 minutes)

Hiroshima City Cinematographic and Audio-visual Library presents:
SHONEN SHOKUN
(You Boys, 1932, Kyodai Productions, directed by Tamotsu Takata)  
35mm, b/w, 28 minutes [24 fps], silent. Jointly restored from the  
16mm film by Hiroshima City Cinematographic and Audio-visual Library  
and National Film Center. A collection of National Film Center.

National Film Center presents:
KEMURIGUSA MONOGATARI
(The Story of Cigarettes, 1926, Tokyo Jiyu Eiga-sha, directed by  
Noburo Ofuji) 35mm, tinted color, 3 minutes [24 fps], silent;

NAKAYAMA SHICHIRI
(Seven-ri to Nakayama, 1930, Hassei Eiga, directed by Namio Ochiai)  
35mm, b/w, 37 minutes [21 fps], sound (Mina Talkie sound system),  
incomplete;
RHYTHM (1935) 35mm, b/w, 2 minutes [16 fps], silent; PROPAGATE (1935)  
35mm, b/w, 4 minutes [16 fps],silent; AN EXPRESSION (1935) 35mm,  
color (pseudo-Kinemacolor system), 3 minutes [30 fps], silent. All  
directed by Shigeji Ogino, blown-up from the 9.5mm originals;

KAWAII SAKANAYA-SAN
(A Little Fishmonger, 1953, Konishiroku Shashin Kogo, directed by  
Shiko Niimura) 35mm, color (Konicolor system), 3 minutes, sound; and
GINRIN (Bicycle in Dream, 1955, Shin Riken Eiga, directed by Masao  
Yabe, Toshio Matsumoto and Genichiro Higuchi) 35mm, color, 12  
minutes, sound, English version.

All restored by and collections of National Film Center.

Wednesday, April 11 19:00
(total running time: 75 minutes)

Film Preservation Society presents:
MODAN KAIDAN: ICHIOKU-EN
(Modern Horror 100,000,000 Yen, Shochiku [Kamata Studio], directed by  
Torajiro Saito) 35mm, b/w, 15 minutes [16 fps], silent, abridged  
version. Restored by Film Preservation Society. A collection of  
National Film Center.

Ritsumeikan University Art Research Centerpresents:ONSEN HIWA: MISASA  
KOUTA
(The Ballad of Misasa: Tragedy in the Hot Spring Town, 1929, Makino  
Productions [Omuro Studio], directed by Kichinosuke Hitomi) 35mm, b/ 
w, 60 minutes [18 fps], silent, with English subtitles. Jointly  
restored by Ritsumeikan University and National Film Center. A  
collection of National Film Center.

Both screenings that day will have benshi performance by Midori  
Sawato, the internationally acclaimed benshi performer, with musical  
accompaniment by Joichi Yuasa (guitar) and Makiko Suzuki (flute).
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