JAPANESE PAPER FILMS
October 31 . 4 pm
Fórum Municipal Luísa Todi
music and live score
Flander's Tales: Stormy Night
JP, 1935, 1'42''
Fisherman Urashima
JP, c.1933-1938, 1'41''
Raccoon Dog Balloon
JP, c.1932-1938, 1'29''
Limited Chushingura
Parts 1 and 2
JP, 1935, 6'25''
Ponsuke's Shapeshifting Training
JP, 1938, 2'07''
Norakuro - The Hot Air Balloon
JP, c.1932-1938, 1'48''
Train Trip
JP, c.1932-1938, 1'13''
Momotaro's Wild Eagle Conquest
JP, c.1932-1938, 2'02''
Otsuki - Mr. Moon
JP, 1935, 1'06''
Fishing Around
JP, 1936, 1'37''
Araki Mataeom
Parts 1 and 2
JP, c.1935-1938, 4'09''
First Line of National Defense
JP, 1934, 1'50''
Reffie's Rocket
JP, 1937, 1'08''
The Unbeatable Ohei's Bandit Extermination
JP, 1933, 1'34''
Kappa Odori
JP, c.1935-1938, Sonoro, 1'46''
Flower Garden Dance
JP, c.1932-1938, Sonoro, 1'35''
Military Parade
Part 1
JP, c.1932-1938, Sonoro, 2'58''
No Smoking
JP, c.1955-1957, 1'05''
Racoon Dog Belly Drumming
JP, c.1932-1938, 2'02''
prints
The Japanese Paper Film Project
Discover the hidden beauty of early Japanese cinema - restored 1930s kami eiga (paper films) paired with haunting live koto (traditional musical instrument and cello for an unforgettable cinematic experience.
In the 1930s, several Japanese companies produced films made on paper (“kami firumu”) instead of celluloid. The Japanese Paper Film Project preserves the surviving movies and promotes scholarship about these films.
From 1932 – 1938, two Japanese Companies dominated the paper film market. Most well known are REFCY, based in Tokyo, and Katei Toki (“Home Talkie”), based in Osaka. They produced animated and live action films and often in color. Many of the films contained synchronized sound tracks on 78-rpm vinyl and were accompanied by a Benshi narrator.
Given the short period of production, the varying paper quality, and WWII’s devastation, very few Japanese paper film prints survive. Now, almost 90 years later, the handful of surviving prints are beginning to deteriorate. Thus, this project is racing against time to preserve the films before they disappear entirely.
Very little scholarship exists on Japanese paper films in English but a few recent works by Japanese scholars prove invaluable.
FLANDERS’ TALES:
STORMY NIGHT
original title . 嵐の夜 フランドル童話
Print courtesy of Toy Film Museum
Animated colour and silent film, tells the story of a boat, when headed to the town of Ostend, Flanders gets caught in a storm.
DUO YUMENO
Yoko Reikano Kimura . Hikaru Tamaki
New York based koto / shamisen player and singer Yoko Reikano Kimura and cellist Hikaru Tamaki create a singular fusion sound, inspired by tradition but with a contemporary sensibility. In 2014, they were awarded the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program grant, and in 2015, the duo embarked on a project, together with composer Daron Hagen, to compose a set of pieces based on the 13th-century Japanese epic tale "The Tale of Heike (Heike Monogatari)," one of the masterpieces of Japanese literature. Since 2010, they have successfully toured Japan annually, visiting cities such as Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara. Some of the notable venues include the Aoyama Music Memorial Hall (Kyoto), as well as the Kasuga Grand Shrine, the Ryōan-ji and Yakushi-ji Temples, and other UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Their collaboration with the Japanese Paper Film Project began in 2024, providing live music to accompany paper films – a novel form of silent shorts produced only in Japan during the 1930s.
