[KineJapan] Ogawa in Paris

Sun Apr 29 23:50:06 EDT 2018

I heard about this book and must get my hands on it, even though I can't
read Italian!  I also heard there is a European festival catalog from the
70s (I forget which one). The European circuits of Ogawa and Tsuchimoto
would be a fascinating project, but from what I gather it would be nearly
impossible to research at this point. The people I've met with first hand
experience have faulty memories, and very little was left in print.

Markus

---

*Markus Nornes*
*Professor of Asian Cinema*
Department of Screen Arts and Cultures, Department of Asian Languages and
Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design

*Department of Screen Arts and Cultures*
*6348 North Quad*
*105 S. State Street*
*Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*

On Mon, Apr 30, 2018 at 12:26 PM, Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum via
KineJapan <kinejapan at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

> thanks for the report Markus, the Rouch - Ogawa connection is indeed
> fascinating.
>
>
> On the connection between Ogawa Pro and Europe, there’s a short book
> titled Cinema: Giappone e Zengakuren (Cinema: Japan and Zengakuren)
> published in Italy in 1970 by Samonà e Savelli, later Savelli - La Nuova
> Sinistra, a publisher established in 1963 and the first to directly
> represent the extra-parliamentary left-wing in the Italian publishing
> world.
>
> The book is dedicated to Summer in Narita, a brief introduction outlining
> the Japanese political situation is then followed by a translation of some
> writings by members of Ogawa Pro, just a couple of paragraphs nothing more,
> while the main part of the volume is a transcription of the dialogues
> spoken in the film.
>
> And on the back cover: Comitato di Cinema e Rivoluzione: Baldelli,
> Filippi, Ivens, Ogawa, Rocha, Solanas, Straub (Cinema and Revolution's
> committee: Baldelli, Filippi, Ivens, Ogawa, Rocha, Solanas, Straub).
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Matteo Boscarol
> ボスカロル マッテオ
> 記憶ただ陽炎のゆらめき
> - Documentary in Japan and Asia
> http://storiadocgiappone.wordpress.com
> - Film writer for Il Manifesto
> http://ilmanifesto.it
>
>
>
> On Apr 30, 2018, at 11:02, Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum via KineJapan <
> kinejapan at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
> I thought I'd report from Paris, where a near-complete retrospective of
> Ogawa Pro's filmography just ended. The first half of the films was
> featured at Cinéma du Réel, and Jeu de Paume picked it up at Heta Buraku
> and ran until nearly the end of April.
>
> I was on hand for the first half, doing a dozen film introductions and
> three big lectures. I noticed many of the same faces from screening to
> screening. People there were captivated. Many had come from other countries
> just to see the films. They were lucky. Programmer Ricardo Matos Cabo
> worked very hard to find the best prints available, so almost all the films
> were shown on 16mm. The festival and museum also collaborated on new French
> subs for four or five of the films. I could tell they put the original
> English subs to shame.
>
> I met some very interesting people in the audience. The most memorable was
> a woman who had protested at Sanrizuka. She had been in China with Ivens,
> and then dropped in Japan to see what was happening (and Sanrizuka was a
> happening place to say the least). She had seen a handful of the Sanrizuka
> films in seminars with Jean Rouch. He would bring in a Japanese person to
> interpret over the soundtrack. How he got the prints, and where they are
> today, remain a mystery. Ricardo researched the latter and hit a brick wall.
>
> The event was a great success. In fact, I heard that CdR was a little
> bummed that, despite this being their 40th anniversary, the press coverage
> was being dominated by the Ogawa retrospective—even in other countries
> like Italy and Portugal. Cahiers du Cinema devoted a 5-page spread to the
> event.
>
> I'm attaching a notable article from Liberation. The editing here was
> fascinating. This Ogawa Retrospective coincided with the government's
> capitulation at Notre Dame, where there has been a major anti-airport
> struggle for nearly a couple decades (the airport project was announced
> around half a century ago). The protesters set up camps and have been
> squatting on the construction site and protesting since the project took on
> steam after the turn of the century.
>
> I first heard about this French airport protest last year, when I was
> introducing Ogawa Pro films at the ICA in London. A group of protesters
> from Notre Dame showed up to watch the Sanrizuka Series. They had pretty
> amazing perspectives on the films, as you can imagine.
>
> So it seems there was a major capitulation by the government when the
> Ogawa series started up. And La Libération ran a striking front page on
> Notre Dame situation. Open up the paper, and there was a three-page spread
> on Ogawa. It was clever editing for sure.
>
> <unnamed.jpg>
>
> Just after returning from Japan, however, I heard that the construction
> site for invaded by riot police. They destroyed the entire camp, people's
> house, farms, and hurt people [https://zad.nadir.org/spip.php?article5445].
> The pictures the NYT ran looked uncomfortably close to Sanrizuka.
>
> Finally, an amazing coda to the Ogawa Pro retrospective. The Economics
> University of Tolbiac was occupied by students at the beginning of April.
> The students organized a series of talks and screenings behind the
> barricades.....including *Forest of Oppression*, which some had seen at
> the Cinéma du Réel. Things went wrong, the university was attacked by a
> group of extreme right. It became violent. I'm told this is happening a lot
> in France.
>
> It seems Ogawa has never been so relevant.
>
> Markus
> ---
>
> *Markus Nornes*
> *Professor of Asian Cinema*
> Department of Screen Arts and Cultures, Department of Asian Languages and
> Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design
>
> *Department of Screen Arts and Cultures*
> *6348 North Quad*
> *105 S. State Street*
> *Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*
>
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> KineJapan at lists.osu.edu
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