Cherry Amateur Movie Society

Alternate Name:

Sakura Kogata Eiga Kyokai of Tokyo [Sakura Amateur Film Society]

Year Founded:

1934

Superceded By:

Nippon Amateur Cine Slide Association

Location:

Tokyo, Japan

Film Formats:

16mm

Notable Contests:

American Cinematographer Amateur Movie Makers Contest, 1937 - Photography

Publication/Newsletter:

Sakura mūbī

Associated Filmmakers/People:

Fred C. Ells

Khoji Tsukamoto

Resources:

"The Konishi Roku company (which evolved to become Konica Minolta) established a solid business relationship with Eastman Kodak and began selling 16mm Kodascope projectors and Cine-Kodak cameras almost as soon as they became available. Moreover, Konishi Roku developed its own domestic Sakura-brand equipment. The company founded the Sakura Kogata Eiga Kyōkai (Sakura Amateur Film Society), in 1934, and launched a bimonthly magazine, Sakura mūbī. Sakura Kogata Eiga Kyōkai was among the largest 16mm associations in Japan. It eventually also included 8mm users, and the membership grew to as many as 700 in 1936, and 900 in 1939. One conspicuous characteristic of this association was its efforts to spread Japanese amateur cinema to the West. In addition to sending Japanese amateur films to Western amateur competitions, Sakura Kogata Eiga Kyōkai sponsored an international competition in 1937." - Noriko Morisue, "Filming the Everyday: History, Theory, and Aesthetics of Amateur Cinema in Interwar and Wartime Japan" (Yale University: PhD Dissertation, 2020): 41.

References:

Moore, James W. "Amateur Clubs," Movie Makers 12, no. 3 (1937): 125, 141.

Moore, James W. "Amateur Clubs," Movie Makers 13, no. 3 (1938): 129, 139:143.

Associated Films:

Mount Zao