AW: Yokohama and Yokosuka

[Roland Domenig]

Today I was lucky enough to attend a special screening of Kuro to aka no hanabira, a film in which Yokohama and its harbor features prominently.
The film is one of those "maboroshi no eiga" that were thought lost until a 16mm copy resurfaced recently. What is special about the film is that it is one of only six films that were distributed by Daiho, the distribution company that emerged from Shintoho after its de-facto bankruptcy in 1961 (strictly speaking Shintoho did not go bankrupt, but was split into three companies: the liquidated Shintoho mother company that ceased operation, the distribution company Daiho and the production company Nippon Artfilm Company that later became Kokusai Hoei). Daiho was a short-lived endeavour. Established in September 1961 it ceased operation after only three months in January 1962. The most prominent film distributed by Daiho was Oshima Nagisa's Shiiku, the other five films are mostly from lesser known or completely forgotten directors with a Shintoho background. Kuro to aka no hanabira, for instance, was directed by Shibata Kichitaro and it seems that it was his first and only feature film. The film itself was not very impressive - a run-of-the-mill suspence film about drug smuggling -  what was impressive, however, was the screening. Organized by a group of cineasts the audience was made up of mostly film buffs and cinema aficionados of all sorts who gave the screening the feeling of a secret society meeting (helped by the atmosphere of the underground TCC Shishashitsu). In autumn they plan screenings of two more Daiho films that have been rediscovered, Kuroi kizuato no Blues (dir. Onoda Yoshiki) and Hatoba de akuma ga warau toki (dir. Nakagawa Nobuo). The latter is said to have been shot in Yokohama as well. 

Roland