Nishikata Film Review: documentary

19 May 2017

Women Directors at Nippon Connection 2017

http://www.nipponconnection.com

Since 2010, I have made a point to watch all of the films directed by women at Nippon Connection. This year’s programme includes feature films, documentaries and animation by women directors…. with women also featuring prominently behind the scenes in the areas of production and screenwriting.

Guests include the Japanese producer Yukie Kito (Tokyo Sonata, Sakebi), who is presenting the documentary Mifune: The Last Samurai (Steven Okazaki, 2015), Akiyo Fujimura will be on hand to present her feature debut Eriko, Pretended at its German premiere, and Tokyo University of the Arts student Rina Tanaka will present her directorial debut Snake Beneath the Flow at its international premiere.

Women are currently dominating the student population in animation courses across Japan, which is why this year’s Tokyo University of the Arts selection is predominately female directors. There are two women in my selection Poetic Landscapes – Recent Gems in Japanese Indie Animation. Eri Okazaki is a graduate of the Tama Art University (Tamabi) animation programme. Kiyoko Nakai belongs to the art unit kesyuroom2013 (ケシュ#203) with Minami Nakai. Both women are graduates of Film Studies at Waseda.

Here is a quick overview of what to look out for:

NIPPON ANIMATION

A Silent Voice

映画聲の形

Eiga koe no katachi

Director: Naoko YAMADA

Japan 2016, 129 min.

German premiere

Thursday, May 25, 12:00 Mousonturm Saal

Saturday, May 27, 13:30 Mal Seh’n Kino

Poetic Landscapes – Recent Gems in Japanese Indie Animation

in the presence of the curator Dr. Catherine Munroe Hotes and director Hayato Nove

Sunday, May 28, 17:15 Naxoshalle Kino

Tokyo University of the Arts: Animation

In the presence of Taruto FUYAMA

Thursday, May 25, 15:15 Naxoshalle Kino

NIPPON CINEMA

The Long Excuse

永い言い訳

Nagai Iiwake

Director & script: Miwa NISHIKAWA

Japan 2016, 124 min.

German premiere

Competition Nippon Cinema Award

Friday, May 26, 20:00 Mousonturm Saal

Sunday, May 28, 17:45 Mal Seh’n Kino

NIPPON VISIONS

95 and 6 to go

Director, camera & world sales: Kimi TAKESUE

USA 2016, 85 min.

German premiere

Wednesday, May 24, 15:00 Naxoshalle Kino

Eriko, Pretended

見栄を張る

Mie o haru

Director & script: Akiyo FUJIMURA

Japan 2016, 93 min.

German premiere in the presence of the director

Saturday, May 27, 17:15 Naxoshalle Kino

Parks

パークス

Director & script: Natsuki SETA

Japan 2017, 118 min.

International premiere

Thursday, May 25, 19:45 Naxoshalle Kino

Start Line

Director: Ayako IMAMURA

Japan 2016, Blu-ray, 112 min, Japanese with English subtitles

European premiere

Friday, May 26, 12:15 Naxoshalle Kino

Snake Beneath the Flower Petals

湖底の蛇

Kotei no ja

Director and script: Rina TANAKA

Japan 2016, 59 min.

International premiere in the presence of the director Rina TANAKA

Cathy Munroe Hotes 2017

25 February 2017

Japanese Animated Film Classics / 日本アニメーション映画クラシックス

http://animation.filmarchives.jp

The National Film Center in Tokyo is celebrating the centenary of Japanese animation this year. While the exact date that the first animation was made in Japan is uncertain as many people were experimenting privately with cinematic technology in the early years, 1917 is the year that the first commercially produced Japanese animated films were publicly screened. This included short works by Ōten SHIMOKAWA (下川凹天, 1892-1973), Seitarō KITAYAMA (北山清太郎, 1888-1945), and Jun’ichi KŌUCHI (幸内純一, 1886-1970).

Thanks to funding from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs as part of the National Project for the Sustainability of Born-Digital Cinema, the NFC has selected 64 works released between 1917 and 1941 and made them available for screening online complete with fresh subtitles by Dean Shimauchi (Rosemary Dean and Tetsuro Shimauchi). Other subtitling was done by Masa Yoshikawa (Burglars of Baghdad Castle, Nonsense Story) and Ayako Kawakita and Tim Olive (The Nation of Fish, A Wolf is a Wolf, Rascal Raccoon). and Many of these works have never before been available on DVD with English subtitles, let alone in a digital online format. Several films, particularly the abstract works of Shigeji Ogino, have no titles.

The most exciting of these are the two earliest extant anime The Dull Sword (Namakura Gatana, 1917) and Urashima Tarō (1918) – films which were considered lost until copies were miraculously discovered in an antique shop in Osaka in 2008. As the vast majority of pre-war films have been lost due to natural disaster, war, and general neglect, each of these 64 films is an important glimpse into early anime history and early 20^th century Japanese culture. They represent a wide variety of genres including slapstick comedy, record talkies, documentary, propaganda, and experimental.

As these films were made for the domestic market, they do not have official international titles. Several titles have been translated in various ways over the years. I have left the English titles as posted by the NFC. On the Japanese Animation Filmography Project, I list alternate titles. Some of the animations are of completely unknown origin as the films do not have credits. Very little is known about the animator Hakusan Kimura apart from his films.

The website information is currently mainly in Japanese only, but the NFC assures us that they are working on an English version that they hope will be available sometime in the next two months. In the meantime, to help you negotiate the website, I have created links to the profiles of animators and a chronological list of the 64 films. This is by no means all of the extant pre-war Japanese animation works, but it is a tremendous start and I hope that the NFC will be able to extend this project in the coming years.

The website features profiles of the following early anime pioneers:

Ikuo OISHI (大石郁雄, 1902-1944), 1 film available

Shegeji OGINO (荻野茂二, 1899-1991), 7 films available

Hakusan KIMURA (木村白山, ????-19??), 2 films available

Mitsuyo SEO (瀬尾光世, 1911-2010), 4 films available

Yasuji MURATA (村田安司, 1898-1966), 23 films available

Noburō ŌFUJI (大藤信郎, 1900-1961), 11 films available

Seitarō KITAYAMA (北山清太郎, 1888-1945), 1 film available

Jun’ichi KŌUCHI (幸内純一, 1886-1970), 2 films available

Kenzō MASAOKA (政岡憲三, 1898-1988), 2 films available

Sanae YAMAMOTO (山本早苗, 1898-1981), 9 films available

In addition, the website features an extensive virtual exhibition of the career of Ōfuji, who was one of the first Japanese animators to achieve international recognition.

The available films in order of release are:

1917 The Dull Sword / なまくら刀 / Jun’ichi KOUCHI

1918 Urashima Taro / 浦島太郎 / Seitarō KITAYAMA

1924 The Hare and the Tortoise / 教育お伽漫画　兎と亀 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1925 Ubasuteyama / 教育線画姨捨山 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1925 The Pot / 線畫つぼ / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1926 A Story of Tobacco / 煙り草物語 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1926 Burglars of “Baghdad” Castle / 馬具田城の盗賊 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1926 The Story of the Monkey King / 切紙細工西遊記孫悟空物語 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1926 Film Address "Ethicization of Politics" by Shinpei Goto, 1926 / 映画演説政治の倫理化後藤新平 1926 / Jun’ichi KOUCHI

1926 Diseases Spread / 病毒の伝播 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1927 A Ship of Oranges / みかん舩 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1927 Monkey and the Crabs / 猿蟹合戰 / Yasuji MURATA

1928 The Nation of Fish / 漫畫魚の國 / Hakusan KIMURA

1928 The Blossom Man / 漫画花咲爺 / Yasuji MURATA

1928 The Animal Olympics / 動物オリムピック大會 / Yasuji MURATA

1928 Momotaro, Japan's No.1 / お伽噺日本一桃太郎 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1929 The Golden Flower / こがねの花 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1929 Taro’s Train / 太郎さんの汽車 / Yasuji MURATA (review)

1929 Two Worlds / 漫画二つの世界 / Yasuji MURATA

1929 The Lump / 漫画瘤取り / Yasuji MURATA

1930 At the Border Checkpoint / お関所 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1930 Nonsense Story, Vol.1: Monkey Island / 難船ス物語第壱篇猿ヶ嶋 / Kenzō MASAOKA

1930 My Ski Trip / 漫画おい等のスキー / Yasuji MURATA

1930 The Donkey / 漫画驢馬 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 National Anthem, Kimigayo / 國歌君か代 / Noburō ŌFUJI (review)

1931 Spring Song / 春の唄 / Noburō ŌFUJI (review)

1931 Will Power / 心の力 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1931 Electrical Telegraphy, Electric Bells and Telephones / 電信電鈴電話 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 Animated Revue "Spring" / 漫画レビュー春 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 A Wolf is a Wolf / 漫画狼は狼だ / Yasuji MURATA

1931 Momotaro in the Sky / 漫画空の桃太郎 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 At the Circus / 漫画見世物見物 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 Old Man Goichi / 五一ぢいさん / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1931 The Candy Man’s Raccoon Dog Dance / 漫画あめやたぬき / unknown

1932 Detective Felix in Trouble / FELIXノ迷探偵 / Shigeji OGINO

1932 ?/Rhythmic Triangles/Fighting Cards / ? 三角のリズムトランプの爭 / Shigeji OGINO

1932 Momotaro Under the Sea / 海の桃太郎/ Yasuji MURATA

1932 Tonpei and Sarukichi / 漫画豚平と猿吉 / Yasuji MURATA

1932 Sports Day / 体育デー / Yasuji MURATA

1932 The Ugly Duckling / あひるの子/ Yasuji MURATA

1932 The Development of the Train / 汽車の發達 / Yasuji MURATA

1932 The Cat Purr Dance / ニヤゴダンス/ Yasuji MURATA

1932 The Bear Brothers / 兄弟こぐま / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1932 Armies of the World / 漫画の列国陸軍 / unknown

1933 The Three Fearless Frogs / 蛙三勇士 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1933 A Day after a Hundred Years / 百年後の或る日 / Shigeji OGINO

1933 Yoshichiro Salutes / まんが劇與七郎の敬禮 / Hakusan KIMURA

1933 Rascal Racoon / 漫画紙芝居いたづら狸の卷 / Yasuji MURATA

1933 Private Norakuro in Boot Camp / Private Norakuro in Training / のらくろ二等兵教練の卷 / のらくろ二等兵演習の卷 / Yasuji MURATA

1933 Preventing Tuberculosis / 結核豫防 / unknown

1934 Spring Comes to Ponsuke / ポン助の春 / Ikuo OISHI

1934 Sankichi and Osayo: A Genroku Romance / 元禄恋模様三吉とおさよ / Mitsuyo SEO

1934 Corporal Norakuro / のらくろ伍長 / Yasuji MURATA

1934 Kamishibai Kintaro / 漫画紙芝居金太郎の卷 / Yasuji MURATA

1935 An Expression / AN EXPRESSION(表現) / Shigeji OGINO

1935 Rhythm / RHYTHM(リズム) / Shigeji OGINO

1935 Propagate / PROPAGATE(開花) / Shigeji OGINO

1935 The Hare in Inaba / いなばの国の兎さん / Mitsuyo SEO

1936 My Big Emergency / おいらの非常時 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1937 The Making of a Color Animation / 色彩漫画の出來る迄 / Shigegi OGINO + Noburō ŌFUJI

1939 Monkey and Crabs / マングワ新猿蟹合戰 / Kenzō MASAOKA

1940 The Quack Infantry Troop / あひる陸戰隊 / Mitsuyo SEO

1941 Ari-chan the Ant / アリチャン / Mitsuyo SEO

1941 The Lazy Fox / なまけぎつね / Sanae YAMAMOTO

Cathy Munroe Hotes 2017

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19 May 2017

Women Directors at Nippon Connection 2017

25 February 2017

Japanese Animated Film Classics / 日本アニメーション映画クラシックス

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