[KineJapan] Nonaka's Camera—CIFA Launch in Newcastle

[Roger Macy]

Thanks for this, Markus.

I recently caught up with Byun’s first film on the ‘comfort women’ in1995, 낮은 목소리 Naj-eunmogsoli, that showed at the Dochouse here as part of ‘Open City’ festival.

I noticed the ‘thanks’ credit at the end to ‘Ogawa Pro’ and you have nowexplained it.  All I could do was tosearch for Byun in the YIDFF database and was surprised to get a nil return ineither romaji of hangul.  Indeed theearliest Korean film in that database is 1996. I guess, even then, there was more the Yamagataselection committee than just Ogawa ?
Roger

    On Wednesday, 27 September 2023 at 05:59:30 CEST, Markus Nornes via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:  
 
 I'm in Newcastle for the launch of the extraordinary Chinese Independent Film Archive. This is a multi-pronged archival project based in northern England that is collecting films, paper materials and various ephemera connected to the Chinese indies——which is to say material that no archive in the PRC would touch. Indeed, the government literally confiscated the previous attempt at an archive at the Li Xianting Film Fund.
They are also publishing a really impressive journal coming at the independent scene from various angles. Japanese film scholars need to check out the first issue, which looks at the many links between Japan and independent Chinese cinema. It's no exaggeration to say that Japanese connections, projects, travel, festivals, etc. etc. played a decisive role in inspiring and supporting a handful of young filmmakers to carve out a non-official production space in the PRC in the early 1990s. Here is the Japan Connections issue, which was co-edited by Ma Ran and Akiyama Tamako. All the issues are book length (!) and online, with the exception of the latest issue (on censorship, and deemed too sensitive to put online at this moment). 
The current week-long launch in Newcastle includes a stunning exhibition of posters by designer/filmmaker Wang Wo. A dozen screenings and installations with artists present. And an amazing room devoted to Hu Jie. 
You might have heard about Hu Jie or seen his films. Most recently, I noticed him in the New York Times last week. Hu makes films that are as remarkably unpolished as they are powerful. The man is fearless. The exhibit displays his woodcuts, journals, film notes, a breathtaking relic from Lin Zhao (from his 2004 Searching for Lin Zhao's Soul).....and his camera. 
There are two connections between this camera and Japan. 
The first is that it's a Sony Hi-8 camcorder. The other is that it is likely (needs confirmation, but I'm sure this is the case) the camera that Nonaka Akihiro donated to a Beijing office he established in the early 1990s as an experiment in alternative journalism. Nonaka is the leader of Asia Press, which is still around. His idea back then was to exploit the new camcorders to get local camerapeople to shoot material that would then circulate around Asia media, both as footage or finished works. One of these cameras went to Beijing, where it was used by Feng Yan, Ji Dan and Hu Jie. All three became the first leaders of the new Chinese documentary. (Feng and Ji and in Newcastle; Hu Jie fell ill and sent his son in his place.) 
This is one of those cameras. 

One of those cameras that seeds new cinema in other parts of the world, like the camera Joris Ivens left with the Communists after shooting The 400 Million. Or the camera Chris Marker and Co. shot May 68 with, which was sent to Ogawa Pro in Sanrizuka, which in turn donated it to Byun Young-Joo who had just started her trilogy on comfort women. 
Nonaka is an important figure in tv documentary in Japan. To learn more about him, check out this essay by Akiyama and this interview by Tsuchiya Masaaki. 
There. I made something of my jet lag!
Markus

--- 
Markus NornesProfessor of Asian Cinema

Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design



 



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