[KineJapan] Film fests of yore in Yurakucho/Hibiya

Markus Nornes nornes at umich.edu
Mon Sep 21 15:32:56 EDT 2020


This is all very fasciinating!

I'm disheartened to hear that USC only catalogued 5 issues. They had a
regular subscription for years!  So perhaps that behind that conversation
with the librarian there were conversations whether it was worth keeping or
junking!

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*



On Mon, Sep 21, 2020 at 1:14 PM Anne McKnight via KineJapan <
kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

> Thanks, Roger~I did see it! Mubi is really killing it these days.
> The late-in-life discovery of Ray and Kurosawa’s embrace of this film,
> with its mysteriously well-traveled anthropologist progagonist, made me
> wonder if Kurosawa had a change in heart about local/indigenous cultures. A
> turn away from the John Wayne affinity of his earlier days…
>
> Anne
>
> On Sep 21, 2020, at 12:09, Roger Macy via KineJapan <
> kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Anne, just in case you hadn't spotted it Agantuk is on Mubi, where it was
> featured during July, when I watched it, but is still available to view
> from the library. The Stranger <https://mubi.com/films/the-stranger-1991>
>
> The Stranger
> A well-off family is paid an unexpected visit by a man claiming to be the
> matriarch’s long-lost uncle. The initi...
> <https://mubi.com/films/the-stranger-1991>
>
> Roger
>
> On Monday, 21 September 2020, 19:42:37 BST, Anne McKnight via KineJapan <
> kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks Jonathan and Markus~
>
> Fortunately, I only have to deal with actual empirical fact insofar as it
> helps me understand what Kurosawa is saying.
> He says it was the Chanter (which maybe I should render Chanté in
> English-ish to capture the retro-elegance?) so his memory recall is what I
> am going with. His line is mostly rhetorical, I think—about situating
> himself in a mediascape where he has an identity that does not pander, is
> old-school in daring to be vulgar, etc…but I need to see the programming in
> the surrounding areas to make that call of where he is dragging his
> contrarian feet…
>
> Markus, sadly, USC Library does not seem to have kept up the connection,
> as they only have 5 issues from 1979~81. Or it may well be that they have
> them in a pile somewhere, and they have not been catalogued. That reminds
> me that Rebecca Corbett has just started as librarian there and may well
> know...
>
> What I am most concerned with is how that theatre sits in the cluster of
> theatres in that area, with their respective repertoires of both Japanese
> and foreign/“Western" films. In the way that, say Yosumi Shunya’s book on
> *sakariba* gives the general vibe of street/theatre life in various
> neighborhoods...
>
> Indeed, PIA or TIFF archives would help me figure that out, as I could see
> what was regular programing, and what was special event/festival…
> TIFF on-line archive is interesting—also, a blast from the past to see the
> juxtapositions…
>
> It doesn’t look like there was any kind of a Kurosawa fest at TIFF. No
> screening of his stuff at all from 1989~1992, while Obayashi, Kumai and
> Shindo all do have films. I did come across a really fascinating Satyajit
> Ray film that Kurosawa mentions, though (The Stranger/Agantuk), in the same
> *taidan* I am translating.
>
> Jonathan, at UCI library, *PIA* does not come up in a search, so are you
> suggesting I should skim through the film journals from 1990~1 or
> thereabouts to look at general news items?
>
> All this for a footnote, if an intriguing one, and thanks for the
> resources!
>
> Anne
>
> On Sep 20, 2020, at 17:46, Jonathan M. Hall <jonathanmarkhall at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi Anne,
>
> I think TIFF was only six years old in 1991, and Kurosawa definitely
> presented at it in person that year. But was the Chanter the actual venue?
> I seem to remember it was one of them.
>
> http://history.tiff-jp.net/en/overviews?no=4
>
> If only these weren’t pandemic times, this might help:
>
> https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-ea/ldpd_7755896/dsc/16
>
> I do remember a festival, but which one.
>
> By the way, one more local resource: UC Irvine has an excellent collection
> of film journals of the period, which I helped the library acquire through
> a NEAC grant. That would be the easiest place. And those periodicals are
> loanable. So a colleague there might request curbside loan for you if
> inter-library loan doesn’t work.
>
> With best wishes,
> Jonathan
>
>
> On Sunday, September 20, 2020, Anne McKnight via KineJapan <
> kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi all~
>
> I’m wondering if anyone who has pounded the pavements and darkened the
> doors of the theatres in the Yurakucho area might know of any film fests
> particularly associated with the Hibiya Chanter (日比谷シャンテ) theatre?
> I ask because Kurosawa Akira was in about 1991 miffed that one of his
> films (The Bad Sleep Well) was not included at the retrospective of his
> films that screened there; he hints that it is too déclassé for the time
> and place. The whole Kurosawa feature was probably a part of a larger
> festival, as he does refer to a フェスティバル.
> If I had access to *PIA* I would go back and look at the listings, but I
> don’t, so if anyone has a memory of being there or reading about festivals
> that took place in Hibiya, or strolling by the marquees even, I would very
> much enjoy hearing about these events.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Anne
>
>
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