[KineJapan] Mini-Theater Fundraiser closes

Markus Nornes nornes at umich.edu
Sat May 16 12:39:20 EDT 2020


The mini-theater fundraiser spearheaded by Hamaguchi, Fukada, et al ended,
and was a wild success: ¥331,025,487 from 30,000 people.

https://motion-gallery.net/projects/minitheateraid

A similar effort in the US run by Criterion/Janus and run out of the Art
House Convergence only brought in US$832,088 in roughly the same period
from 5,100 donors.

The difference is pretty amazing. I think it speaks to the important role
of mini-theaters in contemporary Japanese film culture. It simultaneously
reveals how marginalized art house theaters are in the US.

There is another way of looking at this that's quite disheartening from the
US POV. The American film industry is loaded with capital. There are
_a_lot_ of multimillionaires and more than a handful of people enjoying
unfathomable wealth. A few prominent filmmakers are listed as donors on the
US page....but, frankly, it's amazing how little they donated. That this
outfit only aspired to US$500,000 and couldn't raise $10 million says a lot
about how American film and television people see film culture as
anonymously corporate—or that they simply don't think about exhibition at
all.

That a cash-poor film industry with low wages and no strong tradition of
residuals for over-the-line talent can raise this much money for indie
theaters is impressive.

It will be a while before we can assess how Covid-19 impacted the
exhibition circuit in Japan. But rural theaters are starting to open back
up. The Forum in Yamagata—one of the venues for the documentary festival
and a theater with roots in Ogawa Shinsuke's film exhibition movement—just
opened up again. They are showing documentary (a new film shot in Yamagata,
filmed kabuki), revivals (Shin-Godzilla), new anime, mainstream features
(Fukushima 50, Birds of Prey), and foreign art films (Hidden Life). All in
one theater. I hope they survive, along with all the other great
mini-theaters across Japan.

Markus




---

*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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