[KineJapan] bringing a benshi to Finland

Kyoko Omori komori at hamilton.edu
Thu Oct 31 19:29:57 EDT 2019


As well as the kowairo kakeai that Jonathan mentions in his email, I would like to add that all three benshi performed Chikemuri Takada no Baba at three separate screenings during the event. So, those of us who were lucky enough to see all performances got to compare different benshi styles for the same movie. Inviting multiple benshi would cost more money, but I thought that was a big success. Michael Emmerich and Junko Yamazaki at UCLA, together with people from Waseda, did such a wonderful job.

And of course, there is an option to bring musicians as well. Ichiro has performed with musicians both in and outside Japan at benshi events. All these things without specific numbers might not be directly useful to Eija or anybody else thinking about hosting a benshi event, but I still mention it because that's one way to attract the interests of different schools and groups when one prepares an application for funding.

Cheers,

Kyoko
....................
Kyoko Omori

Associate Professor of Japanese
East Asian Languages and Literatures Department
Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323, USA

> On Oct 31, 2019, at 6:40 PM, Jonathan M. Hall via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
> 
> Dear Eija,
> 
> Earlier this year, the UCLA Film & Television Archive had a three-day series with benshi performance by Kataoka, but also Sakamoto Raiko and Omori Kumiko, including one film where they performed together.
> 
> I'd recommend contacting Paul Malcom at the Archive to inquire more. 
> 
> With best wishes,
> Jonathan
> 
> Jonathan M. Hall
> Visiting Assistant Professor 
> University of California Riverside
> 
> On Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 6:15 AM Markus Nornes via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu <mailto:kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>> wrote:
> Hi, 
> 
> I have experience with this. The answer is that he is totally flexible, BUT there is an ethical way to make this happen and treat him well. 
> 
> Keep in mind that this is his career, and we want him to be doing this and not voice acting and radio. 
> 
> Also keep in mind that every day he’s not in Japan, he is not working in Japan. And he always gets paid more in Japan than abroad. He can get US$1,500 to $3,000 per performance in Japan. 
> 
> So the answer to your question is this: pay as much as you possibly can squeeze from your institution. 
> 
> I think he would feel insulted if it was less than $500 per performance, but he wouldn’t tell you that and would still do it for the cultural capital.  
> 
> So pay as much as you possibly can. 
> 
> There is one way you can give him more money. 
> 
> Ichiro collects silent films. He does this so he can keep costs down. If he owns the print, then no rental fee is necessary and no paperwork as well. 
> 
> However, I think about this a different way. I try to use his prints, but keep a LINE in my budget for print rental. And I pay the print rental fee to him, rather than a distributor. That way I max out my limits for honorarium, while still giving him more money through the print rental budget line.
> 
> Hope that helps. 
> 
> Markus 
> 
> On Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 2:59 AM Eija Niskanen via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu <mailto:kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>> wrote:
> Hi all,
> we are in talks with Finnish National Audiovisual Archive on bringing a benshi to perform with Japanese silent films. As we have to do a budget for any support applications, if anyone has experience with Kataoka-benshi on the costs (his fee basically, as the video translation into Finnish cost and film rentals and shipping we we can figure out ourselves) please let me know. You could email me off-list: eija.niskanen at gmail.com <mailto:eija.niskanen at gmail.com>
> 
> Eija
> 
> -- 
> Eija Niskanen
> Helsinki Cine Aasia film festival
> 
> 
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> -- 
> --- 
> 
> Markus Nornes
> Professor of Asian Cinema
> Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design
> 
> Department of Film, Television and Media
> 6348 North Quad
> 105 S. State Street
> Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285
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