[KineJapan] History of admissions tickets for doc films in Tokyo

[Anne]

Greetings~

I’ve been reading occasional essays by Haneda Sumiko, and came across an interesting historical claim. It’s in an essay Haneda published on a chirashi for her Hōryūji film from 1971. It’s more about her slightly later film, Usuzumi no sakura.

The historical note comes from the way that Haneda frames a screening of Usuzumi at Iwanami Hall, which happened with the support of Tsuchimoto Noriaki and Uno Chiyo (the fiction-writer who also wrote a novel about the same tree, published slightly earlier, and put Haneda in her novel, in a small cameo). Haneda writes that at that time, because documentary films didn’t tend to attract people, filmmakers basically crowd-sourced by collecting funds through “kompa.” But Takano Etsuko encouraged her to charge for tickets, basically saying “why would you let yourself work for free?” Haneda ended up charging 800円 for tickets, and the hall was packed, she writes. She says that basically (“it would not be excessive to say…”) the screening set a new precedent for doc films charging admissions. It also establishes a certain narrative of freelance legitimacy on her part, apart from Iwanami. Seven years later, an essay she wrote on Usuzumi would be anthologized in Kokugo textbooks; she would go freelance after this film and form her own company.

Does this turning point ring any bells for those familiar with screening and exhibition practices in that era—in particular, the act of charging rather than seeking contributions for documentaries?

Thanks for any info or anecdotes!

Anne
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