Film Record: Senjō yori [From a Battlefield]

Images from Senjō yori; from Patē shine 11, no.7 (July 1938).

Date produced: 1938

Filmmaker(s):

Takeji Takemura

Country of Production:

Japan

Languages:

Japanese

Format:

9.5mm

Colour:

B&W

Sound Notes:

Silent

Awards/Recognition:

Second prize at the fifth spring competition sponsored by the Kanto Branch of Zen Nippon Patē Shine Kyōkai, and the first prize at the eleventh competition sponsored by Tokyo Kogata Eiga Kyōkai.

Description:

"Silhouette animation that narrated a story about a son at the war, who sends a letter to his father waiting for him in his homeland. The narrative unfolds as the father reads through the letter that reveals the son’s life and circumstances in the war zone. Contemporary reviews indicate that the film included scenes such as a group of soldiers trying to walk through heavy snow, as well as the soldiers attacking into the enemy’s territory. Praised as a jikyoku eiga (film of the times) that not only “touched the audience’s heart” but also provided a new direction for amateur filmmaking under the wartime emergency." - Noriko Morisue, "Filming the Everyday: History, Theory, and Aesthetics of Amateur Cinema in Interwar and Wartime Japan" (Yale University: PhD Dissertation, 2020): 213.

Resources:

Noriko Morisue, "Filming the Everyday: History, Theory, and Aesthetics of Amateur Cinema in Interwar and Wartime Japan" (Yale University: PhD Dissertation, 2020): 208-215.

Club Affiliation:

Zen Nippon Patē Shine Kyōkai [All-Nippon Pathé Cine Association]

Subjects:

• Politics
•      War

Genre:

• War

Form:

• Animation

Tags:

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