Post by manfromplanetx on Jul 8, 2018 7:08:31 GMT
When the pioneering independent film production company Art Theatre Guild was founded in 1961, Japanese cinema output was dominated by the major studios. ATG became an alternative driving force, an inspiration, an artistic home. The company provided a foundation for new-wave elements to develop significantly, the wondrous collection of films shown and then those produced between 1967 and '84 transformed and re-shaped the direction of Japanese cinema.
The guild was initially formed as a distributor, principally of foreign art films for Japanese audiences, but with additional funding provided by the major Japanese studios led by Toho, ATG was able to follow world wide trends, promoting the rise of radical new and experimental cinema.
The opportunity initiated by ATG was pivotal for directors of the era wishing to make daring, challenging and highly innovative films. The originality of their individual projects would never have been possible under the controlling gaze of the major studios, which typically ran an assembly line production system, leaving little scope for independence and individuality.
With its own chain of ten cinemas ATG had an inspired policy of giving each major feature a one-month run. Independent cinema in Japan was given unconditional support on a scale unprecedented in the history of Japanese cinema.
The importance of the independent ATG productions, or for that matter any independent films cannot be underestimated. Cinema as an artistic medium can be far more complex than just a simple tool for entertainment, it has the capacity for enlightenment, the transmission of ideas & philosophies, a powerful political weapon and much more...
Thoroughly entertaining, insightful. challenging and topical, absorbing cinematic art, which not only looks good but demands from an audience, our complete attention...
Director Kihachi Okamoto worked in a variety of genres, crafting some of Japans most vibrant and defiant genre films. His cinematic vision was deeply influenced from his war time experiences, having witnessed the horrors of frontline battle. Okamoto turned to the independent Art Theatre Guild production company for, Nikudan ,The Human Bullet (1968) a very personal, darkly satirical depiction of, an everyman's experience of World War 2, it is brilliant & bold cinema , a highly original anti war film, the first of three productions he made at ATG...
The guild was initially formed as a distributor, principally of foreign art films for Japanese audiences, but with additional funding provided by the major Japanese studios led by Toho, ATG was able to follow world wide trends, promoting the rise of radical new and experimental cinema.
The opportunity initiated by ATG was pivotal for directors of the era wishing to make daring, challenging and highly innovative films. The originality of their individual projects would never have been possible under the controlling gaze of the major studios, which typically ran an assembly line production system, leaving little scope for independence and individuality.
With its own chain of ten cinemas ATG had an inspired policy of giving each major feature a one-month run. Independent cinema in Japan was given unconditional support on a scale unprecedented in the history of Japanese cinema.
The importance of the independent ATG productions, or for that matter any independent films cannot be underestimated. Cinema as an artistic medium can be far more complex than just a simple tool for entertainment, it has the capacity for enlightenment, the transmission of ideas & philosophies, a powerful political weapon and much more...
Thoroughly entertaining, insightful. challenging and topical, absorbing cinematic art, which not only looks good but demands from an audience, our complete attention...
Director Kihachi Okamoto worked in a variety of genres, crafting some of Japans most vibrant and defiant genre films. His cinematic vision was deeply influenced from his war time experiences, having witnessed the horrors of frontline battle. Okamoto turned to the independent Art Theatre Guild production company for, Nikudan ,The Human Bullet (1968) a very personal, darkly satirical depiction of, an everyman's experience of World War 2, it is brilliant & bold cinema , a highly original anti war film, the first of three productions he made at ATG...