If I do say so myself. Turns out the U of M's Asian Film series is related to summer classes, so most of the attendies to Pom Poko on Wednesday were students. It was a nice little turnout, about 30 or so. I told myself to expect, at best, ten. Twenty would mean a great success. So I was pretty pleasantly impressed by things.
I was also able to talk for some time with the teacher, a woman who's a fervent Ghibli fan, and also lived in Japan for five years. It was nice to finally be able to talk to someone about these films; someone who actually has a clue what they're about. I still win on points, though - I've seen everything in the pre-Ghibli era. Hah!
As for any discussions afterword, that was pretty much a lost cause. Most everyone split once the credits rolled, and I found myself struck with a case of stage fright that was extremely frustrating. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep that brought it on. Next time, we'll make sure to do the talking before the picture.
But I did promise to spend this next week blogging on Pom Poko, which I haven't really gone into much yet. The weekend should offer that opportunity.
The University of Minnesota is a perfect place for these movie screenings. I should find ways to show more of these films there in the future. We'll see what happens.
3 comments:
Any idea what it takes to set up a screening? Who do you need permission from? Can you use regular DVD's or do you get specific prints somewhere? Is it the same if you make no profit?
*prints or copies
Hi!
If you're interested, you can see the Takahata-directed intro to Yasuji Mori's 1965 series "Hustle Punch" here: http://www.arrant-dregs.com/info/h/hustle/hustle.htm
I have not seen the series, but there are quite some resemblances to later works by Takahata, Miyazaki, et al in the opening animation -- for example, Professor Garigari looks just like Professor Moriarty from "Meitantei Holmes"!
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