[KineJapan] Benshi Bonanza

[Miyao, Daisuke]

Dear Markus and all,

Thank you for your fantastic report! I wish I had been there, too!

I attended the event at both the United Theater in Downtown Los Angeles and the UCLA Film Archive. It was truly a spectacular experience! All the screened prints were crisp and superb, and with the energetic and nuanced benshi performance, I felt like watching A Page of Madness and Orochi, among others, for the first time!

I agree with you, Markus – the real treasure of the catalog is the astounding images of theaters, people, films, and archival materials. The hope that Michael and I had was that the readers of the catalog could feel like "experiencing" the world of the benshi in those periods!

The print of Sanji Goto, which was screened this time, is from the National Film Archive.

https://www.nfaj.go.jp/event/成金/

Best,
Daisuke

Daisuke Miyao
Professor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature
Director of Film Studies
University of California, San Diego


________________________________
From: KineJapan <kinejapan-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Markus Nornes via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2024 12:44 AM
To: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Cc: Markus Nornes <nornes at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [KineJapan] Benshi Bonanza

Quick followup.

Back in grad school, I toyed with the possibility of going into archive work and film restoration. My professor for silent cinema at USC was David Shepard, and he graciously gave me a tutorial on the subject. I spent a lot of time at his lab/office/"archive," which was filled to the gills with all sorts of cool stuff. I vividly recall his teaching me how to read the film codes at the edges of prints with a small loupe. As an aside, he said, "You know, I got that from Flaherty. He cut Aran with that." Whoa. Anyway, as part of the independent study I was to attempt to work on a film. I found the unrestored, nitrate print of a Japanese film at the UCLA archive. Confirmed that the National Film Archive of Japan didn't have it. And UCLA let me extract the print to attempt a restoration. Thing is, it's expensive and try as I might I couldn't find any support for doing it. In the end, I returned the print to UCLA. And the Film Center was happy to learn of its existence. That was Sanji Goto, and I noticed the Yanai Initiative included it in their program. I wonder if it's the UCLA print????

Markus




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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

Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www-personal.umich.edu/*nornes/__;fg!!Mih3wA!GHmaLtXVUl-fw2BtfM5LTVXbjFF6bKL4ey7Eb-5PSBKUl5zd18-h6V-UQYaeX_7cazUe5x8Gruq0D-lxH01l49t5Eg$>
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