Fukui Cinema Lab Seminar

Joint Team of Second- and Third-Year studentsCultural and Artistic Events

February 2019

Passage of Life, a joint production between Japan and Myanmar worked on by Fukui-born producer WATANABE Kazutaka, had its prefectural premiere at the Fukui Metro Theater on February 9, 2019. To coincide with the event, a joint team of second- and third-year Global Approach students held initiatives in two areas: deepening understanding of movies, and providing support for the prefectural premiere itself. The results of their work were presented at the Fukui Cinema Lab, a student-led event at the F-Square University Collaboration Center on the seventh floor of AOSSA. The event took place on Sunday, February 3, in advance of the movie’s release. The theme was “What Should ‘Small Movies and ‘Small Movie Theaters’ Mean for Regional Communities?” WATANABE gave a talk about “small movies” with reference to Passage of Life, while NAGISHI Teruhisa, who runs the Fukui Metro Theater, spoke about small movie theaters, in reference to his own establishment. Both guests also took part in a talk show session, alongside some student panelists. Students were actively engaged in advertising and PR covering everything from newspapers, television, and other mass media to posters, flyers, and social media. They succeeded in attracting an impressive audience with unique insight regarding movies, including members of film-related organizations in Fukui Prefecture. This event created a forum for an intergenerational exchange of information about the pressures facing small-scale theaters, including the considerable influence of commercial factors on movie production, decreasing diversity among the works being produced, and the loss of audiences to multiplexes that show the biggest blockbusters, and which are integrated into commercial facilities. A number of rare movie posters loaned from the Fukui Metro Theater, including some hand-drawn items, added a touch of flair to the three-hour event.