[Mini Theater Revisited] Part 12: Coming back from the movie town of Ginza...Part 1: A master and the French film company, Part 1

Ginza was originally a movie town, but the start of mini theaters was later than Roppongi and Shibuya, with chanteuses and other theaters appearing in 1987.

France Films, a foreign film distribution company with an office in Ginza, is known for providing many works to Chante.

This is an unusual article, as it is a report that follows the last moments of this company that represents the mini-theater world.

The company started in the 70's and created a label called "BOW Series". BOW is an abbreviation for Best of the World, and they imported many of the world's highest quality works.

It introduced to Japan one after another the greatest talents in film history, from European masters like Godard, Tarkovsky, and Wenders, to American talents like Jarmusch, to Asian newcomers like Hou Hsiao-hsien. In the past, ``Kinema Junpo'' included several films from this company in its top ten foreign films every year.

The company's president, Shun Shibata, and vice president, Kazuko Kawakita, were truly legendary figures in the mini-theater world.

However, Vice President Kawakita passed away in 1993 at the age of 53. After that, it was run by President Shibata, but eventually the number of imported works decreased...

Greek director Theo Angelopoulos was one of the company's most popular directors, but how did his posthumous film `` The Return of Eleni '' (2008) come to be released six years later than in his home country?

Looking back on the French film company that was in Ginza, I would like to deliver a report in two parts that looks at the final moments of the master director and the French film company. I want to pray).

*The following articles were serialized on the website operated by Geijutsu Shimbun between 2013 and 2014. This time, we have received permission from Sawako Omori and Geijutsu Shinbunsha Co., Ltd. to reprint this work.

Index

• Director Angelopoulos's posthumous work
• BOW series full of masterpieces
• Nagisa Oshima also praises it
• magical visual power
• Actors of the mini theater era

Director Angelopoulos's posthumous work

In the fall of this year (2013), I received a phone call from a movie company. It was from Toei, whose head office is in Ginza, and when I was told the name of the company, I thought it was a promotion for a new Japanese movie. However, as I was listening to the story, the name of a director came up that I had not expected.

``Now, we will be showing a new work by Theo Angelopoulos at our house.''

Wow, I couldn't help but raise my voice.

Angelopoulos is a master director from Greece who was enthusiastically supported by art-minded audiences at mini-theaters in the 1980s and 1990s. His 4-hour blockbuster `` Record of a Traveling Entertainer '' (1975) was shown in Japan at Iwanami Hall in Jimbocho and was a huge hit, attracting 100,000 people. It is said that this had a great influence on the birth of mini theaters from the 1980s onwards.

After that, ``Alexander the Great'' (1980), `` Sail to Cythere '' (1983), `` Landscape in the Mist '' (1988), `` The Storks and Slops '' (1991), and `` The Eyes of Ulysses '' (1995) and "Eternity and a Day" (1998) were imported by the same French film company that produced "Record of a Traveling Entertainer" and were shown at mini-theaters such as Cine Vivant Roppongi in Roppongi and Chante Cine in Ginza, and became a hot topic. called.

However, ``Eleni's Homecoming'' (2008), which was filmed after `` Eleni's Journey '' in 2004, was not released in Japan, and the director died in an accident on January 24, 2012 while filming the new film. This sad news left movie fans in shock.

In January 2014, two years after the news of his death, his last film will finally be screened in Japan. Anyway, why is Toei, known for Japanese films such as ``Kamen Rider'' and the ``Aibo'' series?A representative from the advertising department answered this simple question.

``Actually, our president, Yusuke Okada, is a big fan of Angelopoulos' films, and at one point even wanted to make a book about him.''

The company president, who considers Angelopoulos to be one of the greatest film directors of the 20th century, along with Akira Kurosawa and David Lean, was saddened by the fact that his last film was a film for several years, and decided to release it without considering profitability. He says he has made a decision. When I heard this story, I was surprised twice. I can't believe there are people who still take on such a courageous challenge...

It is also said that Shun Shibata, president of France Eiga, helped with this screening. When I hear that name, I also think of the works of Agence France Films, which can be said to be the father of Angelopoulos's films.

◉A flyer for ``Eleni's Homecoming'' (2009), director Angelopoulos's posthumous work. Toei bought the rights in the form of French film cooperation.

BOW series full of masterpieces