[KineJapan] RIP Roger Macy

[Steven Elworth]

May Roger’s memory always be for a blessing

On Sun, Oct 26, 2025 at 8:22 AM Alexander Jacoby via KineJapan <
kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> It's been heartening to read all these tributes to Roger; it's good to
> hear how much he meant to many members of the KineJapan community. I often
> think that the reason it's worth any of us devoting our academic lives to
> Japanese film is because, at heart, we are enthusiasts, and Roger was a
> true enthusiast.
>
> One of the tributes asked if there were any plans to commemorate his
> legacy. Many of his writings are still online at Midnight Eye and Senses of
> Cinema, and form one part of it; and I wonder (not with especially high
> hopes) if the BFI could be persuaded to screen Kaguyahime in tribute, the
> rediscovery of which, as Jasper points out, was his doing. But much of his
> legacy is more indirect - the sharply phrased query in a conference which
> led me, and no doubt others, to rethink a critical observation or correct a
> matter of fact - he is present, I'm sure, to varying degrees in the work
> that many of us have produced.
>
> I think that his son and daughter would be touched to read the warm
> tributes on the thread, and wonder if anyone would have any objection if I
> were to forward them to Colin.
>
> As ever,
>
>
> ALEX
>
>
>
> On Sat, 25 Oct 2025 at 04:04, Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow at yale.edu> wrote:
>
>> Thanks Alex for conveying the news. I don’t think I can replicate all the
>> wonderful stories others are relating, but I can add that I myself had many
>> pleasurable moments meeting Roger and seeing him in action at conferences,
>> in London, and even
>> Thanks Alex for conveying the news. I don’t think I can replicate all the
>> wonderful stories others are relating, but I can add that I myself had many
>> pleasurable moments meeting Roger and seeing him in action at conferences,
>> in London, and even once when he came to Yale to do research in the Close
>> Up papers we have.
>>
>> I should note that Rober is a member of the Editorial Collective at
>> Kinema Club. When we were thinking of who could best represent this
>> peculiar organization, we immediately thought of Roger. In many ways, he
>> represents what Kinema Club/KineJapan should be: free and open to anyone,
>> academic or fan, to speak about Japanese film and media, while encouraging
>> a deep and continuing engagement with the cinema and its lovers.
>>
>> You will be missed, Roger.
>>
>> Aaron Gerow
>>
>> 10/24/25 午後8:01、Alexander Jacoby via KineJapan <
>> kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>のメール:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I thought members of KineJapan might wish to be informed of the death of
>> Roger Macy, who often posed queries and engaged in discussion about
>> Japanese film via this mailing list. His son, who I don't know personally,
>> contacted me the other day by text to share the news.
>>
>> Roger was a true enthusiast, whose interest in Japanese film and Japan in
>> general stemmed in part from family matters; his daughter had settled and
>> married in the country. He took his enthusiasm seriously and engaged in his
>> own private research into Japanese cinema. His opinions about the films he
>> watched and discussed were sometimes eccentric, even at times infuriating,
>> but always stimulating, and he was a source of entertaining and
>> knowledgeable conversation.
>>
>> Although he had no academic post, he regularly travelled to conferences
>> and lectures on film and Japan-related themes, and voyaged across Britain,
>> to Paris and to the Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna to see rare
>> movies. Alas, this year he was not able to go to Bologna. When I visited
>> him last month in the nursing home to which his final illness confined him,
>> he was still lamenting that fact, as well as the failing eyesight which now
>> prevented him from watching films.
>>
>> To many people on this list he will have been a name rather than a face,
>> and others will have known him only slightly. For anybody who knew him
>> well, the funeral will be on Saturday 8th November in London; I'm happy to
>> share details if messaged off-list.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>>
>> Alexander Jacoby
>> (Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies, Oxford Brookes University)
>> alexanderjacoby at brookes.ac.uk
>> _______________________________________________
>> KineJapan mailing list
>> KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan__;!!FapE6t-4AhA!KllqZuCTjL9ttqmJoFnb934OPh8nDon6CfzN_QKX4hp5uaV7FGVO1Ww2IdXKT89OOP6fWwCStBYbK-6Rs_Jl7-WlS2Gw96r0TA$>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
> KineJapan mailing list
> KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20251026/e8a8e7fc/attachment.html>