Actors and film makers gathered to save Japan's cinema and mini theater in Kyoto

Arata Iura, a Japanese actor from action4cinema group shared his wills at the Mini Theater Aid event on 8/19 at Kyoto University.  Many film directors, producers and actor Nakashima Ayumu gathered to find the best solution to support Japan's mini theaters and film industry after pandemic.

Actor Arata Iura

Started from Ryosuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Koji Fukada (My Real Thing) explained the current situation about mini theaters nationwide and the process how to make a film during pandemic. While Japan government have no any plans to save the cinema industry, The crowdfunding through the Mini-Theater Aid Fund is an emergency measure.

Actor Ayumu Nakashima 

Director Fukada mentioned the budgets and funding system in France and South Korea. The cultural budgets of each country set 464 billion yen in France, 265.3 billion yen in South Korea, and 103.8 billion yen in Japan.

Director Ryosuke Hamaguchi

Director Koji Fukada

In Japan, Culture Ministry is an only organisation who fund all culture - related projects include films which is only 0.11% of total 103.8 billion yen. US has a very good funding system for donating and sponsoring from the private sector. Unfortunately, Japan ranks low among developed countries, even South Korea and China.

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda 

In France, CNC (The National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image) is an agency of the French Ministry of Culture, and is responsible for the production and promotion of cinematic and audiovisual arts in France.

Kenshi Odaka, Film Producer 

South Korea has a film promotion committee called KOFIC (Korean Film Council), a state-supported, self-administered organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Satoshi Takata, Film Producer

Fukada got an inspiration to create a similar system in Japan that would support and protect the diversity of arts and culture. Japan's film industry itself doesn't have a system to support each other when the troubles happened. In order to resolve the unexpected situation, Japan needs a system like CNC in France.

Hideyuki Okamoto, Film producer

The mini-theater aid fund was established by Koji Fukada and Ryosuke Hamaguchi to support small-scale movie theaters nationwide. Crowdfunding started on 13 April 2020 and reached the target, claimed up to 331 million yen from 30,000 individual donors on 15 May 2020. 

Official Website: https://minitheater-aid.org/

image & text: #inStyleAsia