During the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese filmmakers and artists disrupted the status quo with happenings, performances, events and political protests. The boundaries of art film were also expanded considerably. Julian Ross, an expert on the Japanese avantgarde, will talk about this underexposed history.
The 1960s-70s marked a radical change in how artists and filmmakers considered the boundaries of their own disciplines: theatre went off the stage; painting went off the wall; and cinema, with expanded cinema, shifted away from its usual confines of the cinema and explored other possibilities.While historical works from North America and Europe have received attention in recent years, Japan’s contribution to this field has been relatively under-discussed due to lack of access both locally and internationally.In recent years, the non-profit organisation Collaborative Cataloging Japan (CCJ) has worked on preserving historical works of Japanese expanded cinema, expanding its access, and translating key texts on the topic by filmmakers and critics.The screening and talk will trace the history of Japanese expanded cinema that intersected with revolutionary politics and activism, dance and performance, as well as psychedelia and discotheque entertainment.
New publication
This programme celebrates recent preservation projects by CCJ and the publication of Japanese Expanded Cinema and Intermedia: Critical Texts from the 1960s (Archive Books, 2020) with a screening and lecture by Julian Ross, editorial board member of CCJ and co-editor of the book. It is available to purchase in the Eye Filmmuseum shop.
The programme is co-curated by Go Hirasawa and Julian Ross:
- Shinjuku Station (Motoharu Jonouchi 1968-1974 15’)
- Dada ‘62 (Takahiko Iimura, 1962, 10’)
- Human Event (Keiichi Tanaami 16mm-to-digital 1975 5’)
- Shadow (Rikuro Miyai 16mm-to-digital 1968 12’)
