Early Cinema in Asia

350 Pages·7.582 MB·English

by  Nick Deocampo

EARLY CINEMA in ASIA
EAR LY CINEM A in ASIA
Edited by Nick Deocampo
Indiana University Press
Th is book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
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© 2017 by Indiana University Press
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No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
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ISBN 978-0-253-02536-4 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-253-02554-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-02728-3 (ebook)
1 2 3 4 5 22 21 20 19 18 17
For Aruna Vasudev—for her vision and dedication
in promoting Asian cinema and making me and a
generation of fi lm critics, scholars, fi lmmakers, and
festival programmers appreciate Asian fi lm culture
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Th e Beginnings of Cinema in Asia | Nick Deocampo 1
1 Early Asian Cinema and the Public Sphere | Wimal Dissanayake 32
2 Nationalism, Contradiction, and Identity; or, A Reconsideration
of Early Cinema in the Philippines | Charles Musser 71
3 Film’s Initial Reception in China during Its Period of Infancy |
Ritsu Yamamoto 110
4 Hong Kong’s Cinematic Beginnings, 1896–1908 | Wai-ming Law 122
5 How Cinema Arrived and Stayed in Taiwan | Daw-Ming Lee 129
6 One Print in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: Film Industry
and Culture in 1910s Japan | Aaron Gerow 140
7 Distributing Scandinavia: Nordisk Film in Asia | Nadi Tofi ghian 157
8 Th e Civilizing Cinema Mission: Colonial Beginnings of Film in
Indochina | Tilman Baumgartel 179
9 A National Cinema Takes Root in a Colonial Regime: Early
Cinema in India | P. K. Nair 207
10 Colonial Beginnings of Cinema in the Philippines | Nick Deocampo 221
11 Fro m Shadow Play to the Silver Screen: Early Malay(sian) Cinema |
Hassan Abdul Muthalib 240
12 Iranian Cinema: Before the Revolution | Shahin Parhami 255
13 Royalty Shapes Early Th ai Film Culture | Anchalee Chaiworaporn 266
14 I Was Born, but . . . : Some Th oughts on the Origins of
Cinema in Asia | Stephen Bottomore 278
viii | Contents
15 Before Moana: Early Cinema of the Pacifi c | Stephen Bottomore 285
16 Early Cinema in Central Asia: Th e Start of an Ascent |
Stephen Bottomore 289
Appendix: Chronology of Film Beginnings in Asia |
Nick Deocampo 299
Selected Bibliography 313
Index 325
Acknowledgments
I
t has been a long journey to get this book published. For making its publication
possible, there are a lot of people and institutions I want to thank. I fi rst express
gratitude to the Nippon Foundation, particularly its executive director, Tatsuya
Tanami, because of the Asian Public Intellectuals Fellowships grant it awarded
me. Th rough the grant, I was able to organize the Origins of Cinema in Asia
Conference in Quezon City, Metro Manila, in 2005. Th e conference gathered fi lm
scholars, critics, festival programmers, and cineastes from Spain, Sweden, the
United States, Belgium, Th ailand, Australia/Malaysia, and the Philippines. Th e
initial contributions to this book came from among papers presented at the con-
ference. Th e plenary speaker was Dr. Charles Musser from Yale University, whose
paper is included in this book. He became the guiding voice in our discussions on
early cinema. As organizer of the event, I thought of the conference as something
that would be similar to the annual Pordenone silent fi lm festival in Italy, where
early cinema is studied and celebrated. But without a patron, it was hard to con-
tinue holding an annual conference or to publish the essays.
A follow-up conference was held in New Delhi, India, two years later. In
the Cinefan International Film Festival, organized by Aruna Vasudev, a larger
conference was organized, and more countries participated. Th e papers read at
that conference were added to the growing number of essays considered for pub-
lication. Again, Dr. Musser lent his support by serving as moderator for the con-
ference panel, which included participants from Asian countries such as India,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Th ailand, Singapore, Iran, South Korea, Japan,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Th ey were joined by participants from Aus-
tralia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Th e idea of holding a confer-
ence on early cinema in the region proved appealing, and a third conference, the
Conference on Asian Cinema Heritage and Culture, was held in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, in 2008. Th e event had decidedly Asian participation. Th is was the last
of the conferences on early Asian cinema I would organize.
While a sizable number of essays were gathered from the conferences, the
book was still far from publication. Dr. Musser made the crucial step of recom-
mending the collection of essays to Indiana University Press. Th e publication was
green-lighted in late 2008. To those who made the cut and who have been patient
in writing and rewriting their essays aft er more than a decade of waiting, I give
my heartfelt thanks.
ix
x | Acknowledgments
Despite the initial approval, the task of actually getting the book published
would still take years and three Indiana University Press editors guiding its ar-
duous journey. For shepherding the project, I thank Raina Polivka, Jenna Lynn
Whitaker, and the current editor, who fi nally got the book printed, Janice Frisch.
To them I owe my sincere thanks for their patience and perseverance.
In addition, I off er my sincerest gratitude to all those who helped me in my
research work: the library staff s at the Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.),
the National Archives (College Park, Maryland), and the National Film Center
(Tokyo) and the archivists, librarians, collectors, museum guides, scholars, crit-
ics, researchers, cineastes, and private fi lm collectors who diligently took care
of the fi lm holdings and records and who personally assisted me at the libraries,
fi lm archives, and fi lm museums in Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, London, New York,
Hollywood, Tokyo, Madrid, Barcelona, Belgium, Jakarta, Bangkok, Canberra,
Shanghai, Hanoi, Amsterdam, Tampere, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore,
Manila, Cebu, and Iloilo.
Finally, to Charles Musser, for the invaluable help and unwavering support
he has given to this project—from recommending the book to Indiana University
Press for publication to proofreading individual contributions—my gratitude is
boundless.
EARLY CINEMA in ASIA