[KineJapan] Office Kitano dispute

[Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum via KineJapan]

There was talk about the fate of Filmex at last week’s Cinéma du Réel. Over
breakfast, the topic of Office Kitano came up. One programmer had just
dined with Ichiyama in Hong Kong. Ichiyama was confident that Filmex would
go on, although possibly in a slightly different form. This more or less
confirms what I’d been hearing back in Japan. I guess this is good news,
depending the form it takes.

Markus

On Wed, Apr 4, 2018 at 2:05 AM Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum via
KineJapan <kinejapan at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

> As some of you may have heard, Kitano Takeshi has left the company, Office
> Kitano, that he created and that bears his name. The Office is not only in
> charge of managing his activities, it also manages the careers of the
> Takeshi Army and actors such as Terajima Susumu. In addition, it is the
> production office for his films, and invests in the production of other
> films. Finally, it manages the Tokyo FilmEx film festival.
>
> While his departure was announced about a month ago, the last few days
> have seen lots of reports on the wide shows and tabloids about what is
> going on behind the surface. The main source of information was a report
> uploaded on Suidobashi Hakase’s blog (he’s one of the members of Asakusa
> Kid, and a member of the Takeshi Army). It was apparently a statement that
> other Army members have signed off on. It basically asserts that the
> problem has been money. It says that Takeshi became upset when he learned
> that Mori Masayuki, the CEO of Office Kitano, has secretly become the top
> stock holder of the company, that company officers and staff are receiving
> extraordinary salaries while the talent are receiving very little, etc. The
> wideshow on Asahi this morning reports that Mori is receiving over
> $1,000,000 a year, that officers over $2-300,000, that staff working for
> over 10 years get $100,000, while Ide Rakkyo for instance, a long-standing
> Army member for 30 years, only gets $10,000 a year. All this came to a head
> when Office Kitano fell into the red in 2017 for the first time on income
> of about $24 million.
>
> Takashi leaving his own company is a huge blow because 80% of the
> company’s earnings derive from him. What is curious is that most of the
> Army members have said they will stay at Office Kitano, despite their
> statement. Yet without Kitano, there are questions over whether the Office
> can continue to produce films or manage the Tokyo FilmEx film festival or
> even exist.
>
> Aaron Gerow
> Professor
> Film and Media Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
> Yale University
> 320 York Street, Room 311
> PO Box 208324
> New Haven, CT 06520-8324
> USA
> Phone: 1-203-432-7082
> Fax: 1-203-432-6729
> e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
> website: www.aarongerow.com
>
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> _______________________________________________
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> KineJapan at lists.osu.edu
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>
-- 
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*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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