[KineJapan] Edward Yang's Yi Yi

[Michael Kerpan]

Since Criterion released Yi Yi on Blu-Ray not all that long ago, I
would think they might know who has US screen rights.

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 10:27 PM, Stephen Cremin <stephen at asianfilm.info> wrote:
> There’s confusion here over regional rights.
>
> Pony Canyon were the major investor of the film, and may have financed it
> 100% (or with some small help from Tokyo-based Omega Project), after other
> investors pulled out after the Asian financial crisis. The project was
> announced at a press conference in Busan as one of three films by Stanley
> Kwan, Edward Yang and Iwai Shunji.
>
> So, yes, Pony Canyon likely own the global rights to Yang’s film.
>
> While Naoko asks for the “currently copyright holder”, what she needs is
> “currently copyright holder in the United States”. I’m travelling and don’t
> have access to last year’s Busan catalogue, but the information inside may
> not be relevant since the “Print Source” is likely a local (not US)
> copyright holder or Pony Canyon itself.
>
> Pony Canyon did early on hire London-based sales agency Capitol Films to
> handle the film’s global rights, but I’m sure that deal has expired.
> Similarly, Capitol initially licensed it to Winstar Cinema in the US, but
> it’s unlikely that contract lasted more than 15 years, and rights would have
> reverted to Pony Canyon.
>
> Perhaps the “unspecified complication” was the screening fee. If there is a
> US copyright holder, Pony Canyon will tell you, since it’s not worth their
> trouble to collect small screening fees from around the world for one-off
> screenings, particularly late in a film’s life. You’ll likely have to pay
> something to screen it.
>
> For many years, the hardest place to see the film was actually Taiwan, where
> there had been no public screening or release. But there was a very cheap
> (legal) Hong Kong DVD - I paid HK$18 or US$2.35 - that film-lovers would
> bring back. It later screened as the closing film at a Hou
> Hsiao-hsien-organised festival; only I think after Yang’s death.
>
> In summary, contact Pony Canyon (intl at ponycanyon.co.jp). This is one example
> where they absolutely deserve any screening fee since they really stepped up
> and got this film made when they could have easily dropped the project. It
> only exists because of them. The Iwai film - a dystopian English-language
> science fiction film - was never made.
>
> Stephen
>
>
> On 22 March 2016 at 08:48, Eija Niskanen <eija.niskanen at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Naoki,
>> there was an Edward Yang retrospective at Busan Film Festival last year,
>> so they must know the rights owner.
>> Best,
>> Eija
>>
>> Naoki Yamamoto <naokiya at gmail.com> kirjoitti 22.3.2016 kello 9.26:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I know this might be a bit off-topic to to this forum, but could anyone on
>> the list tell me who’s the current copyright holder of Edward Yang’s Yi Yi
>> (2000)? I plan to screen this wonderful film at UCSB in this coming May,
>> borrowing its 35mm print from Yale’s film archive. But the Yale’s archivist
>> recently told me that there’s actually some unspecified “complication” with
>> the rights to the film, and for this reason, Pony Canyon, the Japanese
>> comply that claimed to be the film’s copyright holder, could not give them
>> permission for a screening back in 2014.
>>
>> Are there anyone who recently screened this film at a film festival or any
>> public setting? If so, could you kindly help me solve this complication?
>>
>> All the best,
>> Naoki
>>
>> Naoki Yamamoto
>> Assistant Professor
>> Film and Media Studies
>> University of California, Santa Barbara
>> yamamoto at filmandmedia.ucsb.edu
>>
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