Japanese Silent Cinema and the Art of the Benshi
September 6, 2002 - September 27, 2002
Featuring Benshi Performances by Midori Sawato
In Japan's rich tradition of oral narrative arts, with the advent of motion pictures it was only natural that a performer emerged to stand beside the silver screen and give voice to mute images in rhythmic patterns and modulated tones. This poet of early cinema, the benshi, interpreted films, making sense of the exotic, reinventing the familiar, repeating and rephrasing, performing all the roles. As with kabuki, noh, or bunraku, the musical intonation and dramatic effect of the movie storyteller's art are enjoyed even by those who do not understand Japanese.
We are pleased to present Midori Sawato, September 13 through 15, highlighting a month of rare silent films. Midori Sawato has performed as a professional benshi for almost thirty years, appearing at international film festivals as well as frequent engagements in Japan. She was a student of the late Shunsui Matsuda (whose recorded benshi narration for Jirokichi the Burglar is featured September 14) and has become Japan's foremost practitioner of the art of katsuben. Tirelessly sharing her passion for silent cinema, Ms. Sawato has received numerous awards for her art as well as her accomplishments in inspiring and educating others.
Included in her repertoire is A Diary of Chuji's Travels, which was voted the best Japanese film of all time in a 1959 Kinema Junpo (film critics') poll—even though for years the film was considered lost. The memories of those who knew the 1927 trilogy and the literature surrounding its absence had created a legend. Then, in 1991, portions of a nitrate print were found—amazingly—in Hiroshima, and this thrilling rediscovery confirmed the achievement of director Daisuke Ito. If only the stories of all the other missing films might have such a denouement. Still, over the past few decades a number of significant works have been recovered, often outside of Japan - in Brussels, London, Moscow. The series we present in September pays tribute to the National Film Center, Tokyo, and Matsuda Film Productions. Our colleagues' painstaking work of reconstruction and restoration has yielded treasures from an era of extraordinary creativity and experimentation in Japanese cinema.
—Mona Nagai, Film Collection Curator
A free program guide will be available at the screenings.
On September 16 Midori Sawato will meet with UC Berkeley faculty and students and participate in an interdisciplinary panel with Korean pyonsa Shin Chul. For further information please call 510-642-1412.
Friday, September 6, 2002
7:30 p.m. Policeman
Friday, September 6, 2002
9:20 p.m. The Song of Home
Friday, September 13, 2002
7:30 p.m. The Water Magician
Saturday, September 14, 2002
7:00 p.m. A Diary of Chuji's Travels
Saturday, September 14, 2002
9:00 p.m. Jirokichi the Burglar
Sunday, September 15, 2002
2:00 p.m. I Was Born But...
Sunday, September 15, 2002
6:00 p.m. The Cheat
Friday, September 20, 2002
7:30 p.m. Early Actualités and Kabuki Films
Friday, September 20, 2002
9:05 p.m. Crossways
Friday, September 27, 2002
7:30 p.m. Short Comedies by Ozu and Naruse
Friday, September 27, 2002
9:00 p.m. Foghorn
Cosponsored by the Consortium for the Arts at UC Berkeley, with additional support from the Asian Cultural Council, The Japan Foundation, and The Packard Humanities Institute.
This project would be impossible without the goodwill and generous cooperation of many individuals and organizations. We express our deep appreciation to Masatoshi Ohba, Tomonori Saiki, Hisashi Okajima, Yoshiro Irie, National Film Center, Tokyo; Yutaka Matsudo, Matsuda Film Productions; Paolo Cherchi Usai, George Eastman House; Naoko Watanabe, Nobuaki Iizawa, The Japan Foundation; Livio Jacob, David Robinson, Piero Colussi, Giuliana Puppin, 20th Pordenone Silent Film Festival; Hiroshi Komatsu; Mariann Lewinsky-Farinelli; Michelle Aubert, Archives du Film et du Dépôt Légal du Centre National de la Cinématographie (Bois d'Arcy); Margaret Deriaz, bfi / National Film and Television Archive; Hiroshi Ito, Yoshiko Oe, Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University; Nathalie Morena, Association Frères Lumière and Archives du Film et du Dépôt Légal du Centre National de la Cinématographie (Bois d'Arcy); Yukiko Wachi, Kawakita Film Institute.
We are grateful also to Lee Amazonas, Joseph L. Anderson, Chris Berry, Beth Cary, Marilyn Fabe, Taro Goto, Kyoko Hirano, Fumiaki Itakura, Shunichi Kimura, Frako Loden, Russell Merritt, Kazuko Nakane, Donald Richie, Bonnie Wade, Linda Williams.
