Tuesday 27 July 2010

On Japanese Cinema

Last updated: August 3, 2010

Film Studies For Free wanted to make sure its readers didn't miss the video embedded above. It's another great offering from Fora.tv, this time a very entertaining and informative interview with Donald Richie about his internationally celebrated work on Japanese cinema and culture. FSFF heard of this via David Hudson and the Japan Society Film Blog.

In addition, FSFF has assembled some links below to openly accessible and very high quality scholarship on Japanese cinema (including numerous full-length studies), with work by Donald Richie, and many other excellent items which are indebted to his studies of Japanese cinema.

This was quite a broad category to research online, so FSFF will inevitably have missed some good resources: suggestions for any high quality additions are, therefore, even more welcome than usual! (Update: See comments  below for some of these, including the tip to link to Eigagogo's bookmarks at Delicious which lists some further great resources).

        10 comments:

        Aaron Gerow said...

        The Japan Society for Image Arts and Sciences, the main academic organization doing film studies in Japan, has some articles from their journal ICONICS available online:
        http://ci.nii.ac.jp/vol_issue/nels/AA10899185_en.html

        Martin said...

        http://delicious.com/Eigagogo

        Updated on regular basis , aimed on scholar writing on japanese cinema, but also (selected) interviews, reviews, thoughts & extra (pics gallery, ..)

        Catherine Grant said...

        Thanks a lot to both of you, Aaron and Martin, for taking the trouble to alert me to these really excellent resources. I am taking a close look and compiling some additions to FSFF's list which will appear in the next day or two.

        Michael Guillen said...

        Yet another stellar aggregate, Catherine. It should never go unsaid how important it is that you take the time to round up these links. Where do you find the time? And--much like the comment I frequently hear when people take a look at my libraries--have you read all these? Heh.

        Catherine Grant said...

        Thanks Michael. My lists would be longer if I had more time, to be sure! But like most university humanities academics I know -- we have to be quick at evaluating and grading vast quantities of essays and dissertations -- I am a VERY fast reader and typist, which helps. It also helps that I do what I guess you must do, too, with your great webliographies, I focus only on topics that interest me. That usually gives me a bit of a head start.

        Peter Nellhaus said...

        The article on Tartan Asia Extreme should be read by more people as it articulates two problems that I have to dealt with regarding my own interest in Asian films. Most obviously, it is genre films that have the best chance of getting imported DVD release if not theatrical release. This in turn causes a misunderstanding for the more casual observer regarding the cinema of, for example, Thailand, compounded by the fact that Thailand DVDs are now rarely produced with English subtitles. The other problem is that little distinction is made by some observers regarding the differences in Asian cultures. I once had to call out an alleged professional for calling The Eye "J-Horror", pointing out that the Pang Brothers are from Hong Kong, and make many of their films with a pan-Asian cast in Thailand - not Japanese at all.

        Catherine Grant said...

        Thanks for that Peter. Just finished updating the entry with bibliographical material gleaned after following up on some of Aaron and Martin's tips.

        Unknown said...

        I wish to thank you for your work. It is really useful. It is difficult fo find on the net such useful contributions.

        Martin said...

        A quick to say my twitter account has been renamed:
        http://twitter.com/CinemaJapan

        ... and still updated! (even though ressources are more&more hard to find!)

        KingTubby said...

        Wow. What a resource, esp your references.