Japan Community Cinema Center

Official Title: Japan Community Cinema Center
Location: 5th floor, Kinohaus Building, 1-5 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0044 Japan
Tel: 050-3535-1573　Fax: 03-3461-0760
Founded in October 2003; Incorporated: April 2009
President: Hajime TAI, President of Oita Cinema 5

Japan Community Cinema Center was founded in 2003 and incorporated in April 2009 with the purpose of promoting art and culture and contributing to the growth of local communities. Our activities are primarily film screenings and media education, making diverse cinematic work, and creating a rich film environment. Our members include organizations involved in local film and moving image culture, e.g., film libraries, archives, museums, local cinemas, public facilities, film festivals, independent film exhibitors, libraries and schools.

Main Projects

The National Conference of Community Cinemas

Since 1996, this annual conference has been held in order for film exhibitors all over Japan to exchange information, attend presentations, engage in discussion and interact with one another. The conference is open to local movie house operators, film festival organizers, curators of cinematheques, public facilities and cine clubs, independent film exhibitors, distributors, students of film and culture policies, and those interested in the activities of community cinemas. It has become an important place for film exhibitors to expand their networking activities.

Workshops/Educational Projects

Japan Community Cinema Center presents various workshops for the people engaged in film exhibitions. Offerings include: “Cinema Management Workshop,” a comprehensive course for the people wanting to be film exhibitors; workshops for film projectionists; site-specific “Art Management Workshop in Tohoku,” etc.

Special Screenings/Touring Projects

We are planning and presenting special screenings of important films not commercially distributed, and touring these films in Japan. Recent examples are:

-Manoel de Oliveira Retrospective :
http://jc3.jp/oliveira/
-MoMA Film Treasures from The Museum of Modern Art, New York :
http://fcinemap.com/works/moma.html
-Revived Films: Restored Films of the National Film Center, The Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo :
http://fcinemap.com/works/restoration.html
-Frederick Wiseman Retrospective :
http://jc3.jp/wiseman2011/
-F Cinema Tour 2016: Japanese Film Classics in 35mm :
http://fcinemap.com/works/fcinema_tour.html

Research & Reports

We are engaged in a variety of research projects in order to improve the film exhibition environment. We collect and analyze the data from Japanese film exhibitions including movie houses and non-commercial organizations, public facilities, film festivals and community cinemas.
See: http://jc3.jp/wp/reports-fe/

F Cinema Project

With the digitalization of film exhibition in Japan expanding, and 35mm and 16mm film projectors disappearing in many movies houses and theaters, the opportunities to see moving images in film have been decreasing.
F Cinema Project’s activities include research on what is necessary to maintain the film exhibition environment, provide networking among professionals and projects such as “Revived Films” and “F Cinema Tour.” Its website provide information and knowledge on film and strives to convey the unique charm of film medium to the public.
See: http://fcinemap.com/

Cinema Yell!!

[Cinema Yell Tohoku]
By screening films, we hope to encourage the victims of the Great Northeast Japan Earthquake of 2011. In May 2011, we launched the “Cinema Yell Tohoku: Let’s Deliver Films to Tohoku! Project” and collaborate with the revival projects of the victimized areas. We have been engaged in film exhibitions focusing on the coastal territories of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima. The Sanriku Coast area from Iwate through Fukushima includes many local communities without movie houses. We developed ways to offer rich emotional experience of watching movies and continue these activities today.
See: http://cinema-yell-tohoku.com/

Cinematheque Projects

“Cinematheques” are the professional facilities of public film exhibitions such as film archives, museums, cultural organizations and publicly operated cinemas providing film screenings on a regular basis. Cinematheque Project is a system for publicly operated film exhibitors to collaborate with each other, in order to screen and tour historically important films rarely shown before. The film exhibitors participating in this project are the main forces behind the “F Cinema Project.”

Members of the Board of Directors, Japan Community Cinema Center

President of the Board:
Mutsuko SHIO, Director, Cinematheque Takasaki and Takasaki Film Festival

Members of the Board of Directors:
Naoto OGAWA, Curator of Film, Sendai Mediatheque
Kazunori KUSHIGETA, Managing Director, Miyako Movie CO-OP
Abi SAKAMOTO, Manager of Film Department, Institut Français du Japon
Nobuhiro SUWA, Filmmaker
Hajime TAI, President, Oita Cinema 5
Tamaki TSUCHIDA, Associate Professor of Film, Waseda University
Akira TOCHIGI, President, the Japan Association of Moving Image Archivists
Masato HOJO, Manager, Eurospace
Masamichi MATSUMOTO, Chief Program Director of Athenee Francais Cultural Center
Yoshifumi MIYAZAKI, Director, Matsumoto Cinema Select (NPO)
Noriko YAMASAKI, Director, Cine Nouveau Osaka
Koyo YAMASHITA, Manager, Theater Image Forum, Director of Image Forum Festival
Yuko IWASAKI, Managing Director, Japan Comunity Cinema Center

Advisors:
Kenichiro KAWAMURA, Professor of Film, Ritsumeikan University
Futoshi KOGA, Professor of Film, Nihon University College of Art
Saburo HORI, Director, Production Department, Athenee Francais Cultural Center
Kenji ISHIZAKA, Director, Asian Future Section, Tokyo International Film Festival; Professor of Film, Japan Institute of the Moving Image
Kenichi OKUBO, Film critic
Yasuyo KONDO
Norio NISHIJIMA, Professor of Film, Tama University of Art; and film critic
Kenzo HORIKOSHI, President, Eurospace
Kyoichiro MURAYAMA, film critic
Yoshinori YAMAGUCHI, Managing Director, Fukuoka UNESCO Association

Auditor:
Shoichiro TACHIKI, President, Teco, LLC

Managing Director:
Yuko IWASAKI