[Mini Theater Revisited] No. 15: Coming back from the movie town of Ginza...Part 4: The beginning of Chantecine

TOHO Cinemas Chante continues to be a popular mini-theater in the Hibiya area. It was the first mini-theater built in 1987 by Toho, a major film company. The first name was "Chantecine".

In the 1980s, record-breaking blockbuster films such as Wim Wenders' `` Wings of Desire '' (1987) were produced, and subsequently, films such as Jim Sharmusch, Spike Lee, Theo Angelopoulos, Hou Hsiao-hsien, etc. It has provided a screening venue for talented directors.

The former deputy manager of this theater looks back on the roots of Chante, which continues to release popular and well-received independent films and is loved by movie fans.

*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

• Toho's first mini theater
• Contributions of Miyuki and Subaru
• First attempt at 2 screens
• I was worried at first

Toho's first mini theater

I visited Toho's headquarters, located in the building diagonally in front of Chante, to hear about the founding of Chante Cinemas (currently TOHO Cinemas Chante), a Toho-affiliated mini-theater that opened in Hibiya in 1987.

The story begins with Managing Director Shoji Takahashi (at the time of the interview), who was in charge of assistant manager after working as a section manager during the early days of Chante, and pieces of the history of Toho, a major company, come to light one after another.

First, I asked him about Chante's opening work in October 1987. Chante is a mini-theater consisting of two theaters (Cine 1 and Cine 2), and the opening film for Cine 1 was the Italian film ` `Good Morning Babylon!' ' (1987), distributed by France Films.

"We wanted to open Chante's first film with France Films' BOW series. I think France Films had a lot of trouble deciding which film to choose. "Good Morning Babylon! ' was a story about filmmaking that movie buffs would enjoy, so it ended up being the opening film.''

The directors are Vittorio and Paolo Taviani, brothers from Tuscany, whose films such as ` `The Father' ' (1977) and ` `The Night of San Lorenzo '' (1982) were released by French Film Company. In the 1990s, he attracted a lot of attention in Japan as a talented director in the Italian film industry.

At the time, this movie was a special invitation to the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, and starred Vincent Spano and Greta Scacchi, who were active in the Hollywood film industry. Compared to the previous films directed by the Taviani brothers, which were all about the locality of Italy, it had a much more colorful impression.

The story is about two brothers who go to Hollywood with the dream of making movies, and get caught up in the vortex of World War I. It is a work full of love for movies, as it is a homage to D.W. Griffith, a famous early director who is said to be the father of cinema.

The director's comments about the theater are also included on the back cover of the theater program. To quote some of them...

“This is one of the reasons why we like movies. It makes us feel at home in a country that is in the opposite hemisphere from the one we were born in. How can you feel like you're not at home when a new movie theater is showing our latest film as the opening movie? With the opening of this new movie theater, you have denied the crisis of cinema. He said that there is no crisis in this film, which people are increasingly believing in."

I think it's a great honor to receive such congratulatory messages from the director regarding the opening of this modest 226-seat theater. According to Managing Director Takahashi, this was made possible largely through the efforts of France Eiga's president, Shun Shibata, and vice president, Kawako Kawakita, a married couple.

``At that time, President Shibata was mainly in charge of domestic distribution and business matters at French Film Company, while Mr. Kawakita was often in charge of dealing with overseas customers and purchasing works. Apparently, both of them held both jobs concurrently, but roughly speaking, they were divided into responsibilities.In the case of "Good Morning Babylon!", it started with one theater from the beginning. The director also entrusted this work to the French film company, so I guess he sent a Arrival in response.At that time, the relationship between the couple and film directors and producers around the world was very close. I feel like that gave me a lot of strength during the Chante Open.”

◉Comments from the Taviani brothers on the pamphlet for the memorable opening film "Good Morning Babylon!"

Contributions of Miyuki and Subaru