At 13:08 10/24/96 +0000, Brigid Cherry wrote: >-------- >I have been endevouring to ascertain some background information >on Japanese animation. Every avenue or lead I follow brings me to >Anime - contemporary cell (and computer) animation. Thus far I have >been unable to find any clues as to other forms of animation used by >Japanese filmmakers either now or in the past. Are there no >Svankmajers, Quays, Len Lyes, Nick Parks, Terry Gilliams or Starevichs >in Japanese cinema, or do we just not hear about them in the West? > >Brigid Cherry >University of Stirling Brigid, There are quite a few other animation filmmakers who have shown at international festivals, though you may have to do some digging to find out about them (one obvious source is the Hiroshima Animation Festival catalogs). The granddaddies of puppet animation in Japan are Kawamoto Kihachiro and the late Okamoto Tadanari. Okamoto tended to have a larger range, with work in puppet, cut out, and cel animation (his famous last work, _Chumon no oi ryoriten_). Kawamoto is still very active today with work on NHK and elsewhere. Two books were recently published about them in Japanese: _Okamoto Tadanari sakuhinshu_. Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1994. ISBN 4048524992. _Kawamoto Kihachiro_. Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1994. ISBN 4048525096. As for cel animation, one should distinguish anime from other genres of animation. If we can provisionally define anime as the animated film equivalent of gekiga manga (postwar story comics), then other cel animation tends to have other sources. The most famous 60s individual animators like Furukawa Taku, Kuri Yoji, and Wada Makoto (now a feature film director) mainly came out of gag manga (very different from gekiga) or, as with Wada, illustration. Other early independent animators include Manabe Hiroshi and Yokoo Tadanori (famous as a designer). Even the father of anime, Tezuka Osamu, was interested in more experimental works that crossed the boundaries of anime (_Jumping_ and _Broken Down Film_ are two examples). His son, Tezuka Makoto, has tended to carry on this experimental tradition more than the commerical anime legacy. Since the 1980s, experimental animation using a variety of techniques has become quite prominent in the experimental world, with Kurosawa Keita, Aihara Nobuhiro, Hiruma Yukio, and IKIF being prominent examples. Okuyama Jun'ichi does "animation" on film, Iimen Masako sand animation, and VISUAL BRAINS are known for their computer animation. Many experimental filmmakers like Ito Takashi (the landmark film _Spacey_) and Ota Yo work with frame-by-frame photography. Jan Svankmajer and the Brothers Quay have shown extensively in Japan, so one can see their influence on the "puppet" animation of several young filmmakers like Asano Yuko and others. As for resources, the main history of Japanese animation is _Nihon animeshon eigashi_ (Osaka: Yubunsha, 1977) by Yamaguchi Katsunori and Watanabe Yasushi, but that is already 20 years old. It, however, covers the range of styles, unlike other histories in Japanese. In English, there are probably several books that discuss Japanese work, but the only one I have on hand is Ralph Stephenson's _The Animated Film_ (London: Tantivy Press, 1973). Image Forum, the main distributor and source of information on experimental film, has recently been publishing its catalogs in English, so one might want to check out them, or their special retrospective catalog, _Japanese Experimental Film and Video 1955-1994_, which does have a section on animation. Oberhausen printed a catalog for their 1994 retrospective of Japanese short cinema called _Retrospective of the Japanese Short Film_, and this also has a section on animation. There is information if you look for it, but it is true that much of this work is not getting the exposure of anime. Much of this is due to domestic factors. Unlike other nations, Japan offers no public support for independent animators or film projects, so most simply don't have the money or the time to make films unless they make stuff that sells (which is now anime). People like Kawamoto are successful because they make the kind of works NHK likes, and thus conform to the "fine taste" the government promotes. Given this situation, I think it is imperative for foreign scholars and foreign festivals to focus more attention on and support these struggling, but very fascinating filmmakers. Aaron Gerow Yamagata Film Festival/Meiji Gakuin University Tokyo [log in to unmask] ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]