Feb 16th 2017

Japanese Experimental Cinema—Between Protest and Performance

@ Block Museum

40 Arts Circle Dr, Evanston, IL 60208

Opening Thursday, February 16th, at 7PM

On view through Friday, February 17th

Presented as a cinematic compliment to the Art Institute of Chicago’s contemporaneous exhibition, Provoke: Photography in Japan between Protest and Performance, 1960–1975, these three screenings provide an opportunity to explore the historical intersection of experimental filmmaking with documentary cinema traditions in a period of radical social and political change. Scholar and curator Hirasawa Gō, and director Masanori Oe, will be present for a discussion moderated by Professor Patrick Noonan.

Program A: Motoharu Jonouchi and Nihon University Film Club

Thursday, February 16, 2017 7:00 PM

Jonouchi Motoharu was instrumental in the formation and gathering of multiple artistic and anti-art endeavors including the Nihon University Film Club, VAN film research center, and the Neo-Dadaists, often living and sharing work space with others to establish a space of creative exchange.

1. Wan (Bowl) (Nihon University New Cinema Club, 1961, 25min 16mm)

2. Gewaltpia Trailer (Motoharu Jonouchi, 1969, 13min, 16mm)

3. Shinjuku Station (Motoharu Jonouchi, 1974, 14min, 16mm)

4. PuPu (Nihon University Film Club, 1960, 25min, 16mm)

Program B: Structures and Cinema

Friday, February 17, 2017 5:00 PM

The films in this program all address, in differing ways, the issue of structure. Kenji Kanesaka’s Super Up examines the social structures that produce inequality in the city of Chicago, while Toshio Matsumoto’s Song of Stone and Toru Hamada’s Rope examine the fundamental elements – the image, sound, and time – that structure the cinematic medium itself. Takuma Nakahira, the photographer and co-founder of Provoke magazine currently on display at The Art Institute of Chicago, shot Rope – an example of how the photographers associated with the magazine experimented with the moving as well as the still image.

1. Song of Stone (Toshio Matsumoto, 1963, 24min, digital)

2. Super Up (Kenji Kanesaka 1964, 12min, digital) provided courtesy of The Chicago Film Archives

3. Rope (Toru Hamada, 1969, 37min, digital)

Program C: Newsreel Documentaries of Masanori Oe

Friday, February 17, 2017 7:00 PM

Oe Masanori moved to NY after graduating from college in 1966, working at the Third World film studio with Jonas Mekas, Stan Vanderbeek and others. At the same time, he was drawn to the possibilities of the psychedelic movement through figures such as Timothy Leary.

1. S No.1 (1967, 5min, digital)

2. Head Games (1967, 10min, digital)

3. No Game (1967, 17min, digital)

4. Salome’s Children (1968, 7min, digital)

5. Between the Frame (1967, 10min, digital)­­­

6. Great Society (1967, 17 min, digital)

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