[KineJapan] RIP Roger Macy

[Miyao, Daisuke]

Dear all,

I miss Roger a lot. Whenever film festivals have focuses on Japanese cinema, he was there - with his eyes filled with curiosity and affection.


As a tribute to Roger, let me share his September 2020 email to me and Mariann of Il Cinema Ritrovato. (I hope Mariann doesn't mind!) Roger was the only one who pointed this out to me. This email showcases how attentive Roger was to the details in the history of cinema and was eager to find out about nuances in it!


As for the cover image, the one on my book is directly obtained from Institut Lumière. It is the official screen grab from Panorama pendant l’ascension de la tour Eiffel (1897 or 1898, camera operator unknown). James White's film on la tour Eiffel is viewable in the LOC website. The film has a slightly different camera angle. https://www.loc.gov/item/00694299<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.loc.gov/item/00694299__;!!Mih3wA!UmBj_XyH1MDqxqY4iWPA88tIQnDbbf_o6JhtSbto0yeJguD3xi1R__hC3l_LHXY$>


I wish I had been in the Teatro Communale di Bologna with Roger in 2020 to solve this mystery!

Best,
Daisuke

Daisuke Miyao
Professor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature
Chair, Department of Literature
University of California, San Diego
**I respectfully acknowledge that UCSD is located on the unceded territory of the Kumeyaay Nation.**

________________________________
From: Roger Macy <macyroger at yahoo.co.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2020 10:04 AM
To: mstraeuli at bluewin.ch <mstraeuli at bluewin.ch>; Miyao, Daisuke <dmiyao at ucsd.edu>
Subject: Eiffel tower / tour Eiffel frame


Dear Mariann and Daisuke,

Semai sekai desu ne !

The book on my desk that I am still working on, the catalogue of Il Cinema Ritrovato 2020 was joined by today’s post by Daisuke’s ‘Japonisme and the Birth of Cinema’.

The book and the festival section, ‘ Century of Cinema: 1900’ both share exactly the same cover photograph, indeed the same frame of the same film (see attached photo).  So far, so beautiful, but there is a problem.  The film that Daisuke describes vividly in his book, including that frame, is undoubtedly that which I saw in the Teatro Communale di Bologna on 26th August. But Daisuke describes it as ‘Panorama pendant l’ascension de la tour Eiffel (1897 or 1898, Auguste and Louis Lumière (camera operator unknown)’; and Mariann and the festival catalogue describes as ‘Scene from the Elevator Ascending the Eiffel Tower, USA, 1900, James H. White, Edison – from CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image aimée’ and “”I have (apart from smuggling in a panorama by a visiting Edison cameraman) ...” https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/proiezione/una-seance-al-cinematographe-geant/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/proiezione/una-seance-al-cinematographe-geant/__;!!Mih3wA!WcWj7RP-BM3LV9WtxUGulzY8duWPXjzvrC1SD8v28liNcpLq2xu3u8p9EvJqUiQ$> .

I don’t see how you can both be right.

I’m sorry, if I’m the umpteenth person to raise this. I am not copying anyone else.

Sincere regards,

Roger
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