Japanese Cinema After the Economic Miracle: A Retrospective of Masaki Tamura, Cinematographer

The career of cinematographer Masaki Tamura (b.1939) spans the last three decades and encompasses everything from political documentary to fictional narrative. Tamura began his career by collaborating with Shinsuke Ogawa (1936-92), a critically acclaimed, idiosyncratic filmmaker. Since the early 1970s, he has been working with independent filmmakers. In terms of style, his cinematography, fostered by his documentary experience, has provided opportunities for young directors to construct innovative filmic imagery. Thematically, Ogawa's documentary films investigate the relationships among nature, human life, and the effects of modernization. The young fiction filmmakers working with Tamura address similar issues. This retrospective presents Japanese films which have seldom been screened in the United States. Further, it sheds light on different aspects of filmmaking in the post-studio system era and seeks an alternative history of Japanese cinema after the economic miracle.

Japan Liberation Front: Winter in Narita(1970) was the first of many documentaries that Masaki Tamura made in partnership with director Shinsuke Ogawa. His collaborations with independent filmmakers have resulted in widely acclaimed fiction films. He hopes to continue working with young directors and pursue “minimalist” filmmaking. His latest work is The Shady Grove (Shinji Aoyama) 1998.


Film Schedule

All films screened at 7:00 p.m. Sundays from January 10 to March 7, 1999 at Doc Films, University of Chicago Max Palevsky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall 1212 E. 59th St., Chicago, Il. (See Map). (773) 702-8575 Tickets: $3. Street parking available