Among the many endeavors to liven up film culture through independent programming is the Eiga no Chikara Project (the power of film project), which holds outdoor film screenings and discussion events in the city of Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, located in the Tohoku region of Japan about 500 km from Tokyo.

We spoke with the assistant director of this project, Masaru Takahashi, who is local to Morioka. Interestingly, Morioka has an area called Cinema Street where there is a cluster of five movie theaters. The city is known for being strongly associated with film and has also held a film festival for over 25 years. Mr. Takahashi is the senior manager of Azumaya, a long-established soba restaurant that has been in Morioka since 1907. He says he was just an ordinary fan of films until The Great East Japan Earthquake hit in March 2011.

The Eiga no Chikara Project got underway immediately after 　the unprecedented disaster. From what Mr. Takahashi tells us about the path of this project, we gain a keen sense of the pride and joy he feels for film audiences, the shared empathy, and both the intellectual and physical dedication of everyone involved.

Along with the following message from Director Keishi Otomo, the creator of the project, we hope this interview will convey the emotions behind the project.

Text: Yuri Matsui　Edit: Kimi Idonuma

*A film director. In April 2011, Otomo left NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) where he had been in charge of producing and directing since 1990. Since then, he has directed films such as the "Rurouni Kenshin" series (2012–2021) and "The Legend & Butterfly" (2023).

After the earthquake, the prevailing mood made it difficult to enjoy entertainment

--We received a thoughtful comment from Director Otomo, but would you please also tell us the story behind how the Eiga no Chikara Project started?

Takahashi:　Just two months after the earthquake in May 2011, Masayo Kudo, who is now the director of the Eiga no Chikara Project, came to the soba (buckwheat noodle) restaurant I work at with Director Keishi Otomo, who is also my high school classmate. They asked me to help further energize the locally held Morioka Cinema Street Film Festival. That was the start of the project.

--Up until then, did you have any involvement with film?

Takahashi: I liked films, but I was by no means what’s called a cinephile. I’m not associated with movie theaters, so until those two asked me to participate, I never thought I’d be involved with film festivals.

But, looking at Director Otomo who took action immediately after the earthquake and also inspired by the specific idea of linking the film festival with food, I started to imagine that I, too, had it in me to do something

Plus, after the earthquake, I had time on my hands since local cultural festivals were canceled due to the so-called mood of self-restraint, which gave people a sense they couldn’t enjoy entertainment because there were people suffering.

It was a time of unending news reports about how difficult and grave things were, so I just wanted to send out new, cheerful news from Tohoku. That’s also why I decided to participate in the project.

--As you said, at that time the prevailing mood made it difficult to enjoy entertainment.

Takahashi: My day job is at a soba restaurant that serves wanko-soba noodles*, but I wondered if it was okay to be doing that. There were people sharing rice balls in the coastal area damaged by the tsunami, so was it really okay to be having boisterous fun eating soba noodles?

Morioka is about 100 km from the coast, so there wasn’t direct damage from the tsunami, but if anything, we were actually in the area receiving support. With that happening, I also had the feeling that I could find emotional stability by helping people in some way. Back then, I think a part of me was also inspired by the enthusiasm of the volunteers who had gathered in Morioka from around the country out of a desire to do something for Tohoku.
*wanko-soba: A type of entertaining meal where servers continuously add bite-sized soba noodles into the customer’s bowl.

“Films have the power to make audiences cry out without thinking.”

--Later, how did the Eiga no Chikara Project begin its activities?

Takahashi: Because we wanted to liven up the Morioka Cinema Street Film Festival, first we talked with the film festival’s management office. When we did that, Mr. Kanno from the office responded with, "We can do anything (we put our minds to)!"

We’re laypersons, too, so thinking back, the ideas we had like rolling out the red carpet throughout the area would’ve taken an awful lot of work. But, Mr. Kanno was always positive, saying, "We can do it. We can do it."

So we took it as truth and started to gather others together right away, in order to energize the film festival. After a while, I also began attending official meetings for the Morioka Cinema Street Film Festival. During that process, I also came to realize that achieving some of the ideas I’d thought were possible was actually quite difficult (laughs). At any rate, without putting the brakes on the momentum that we had already built up, we held a discussion called "Jimoto Souzou Kaigi（Our home town meeting）" in October. It was a collaborative event for the film festival and came about six months after the earthquake.

--How did you feel when carrying out an event you had planned yourselves?

Takahashi: At that point, the mood was still one of hesitancy over people gathering, but it was fun to bring people together and have lively conversations. That experience was the starting line for us.

Also, I’ll never forget what I heard from Kazunori Kushigeta, the manager of Miyako Cinemarine,* at a discussion event for the Morioka Cinema Street Film Festival held around that same period. Mr. Kushigeta immediately reopened the cinema right after the earthquake because he thought the children in the disaster-stricken area didn’t have enough fun activities even though it was spring break. In that discussion, he talked about what happened when he did so. The children who came to watch the movies enthusiastically rooted for the characters from their theater seats.

Listening to his story, I felt that films have the power to make everyone feel some kind of emotion by experiencing the story together in the same place, and, at times, even have the power to make audiences cry out without thinking. I thought, there was probably more that can be accomplished through films.

*A movie theater in Iwate. It closed its doors as a movie theater that regularly shows films in September 2016.

--Mr. Kushigeta’s story became the spark that made you think again about the power of film.

Takahashi: Yes, that’s right. Until then, somewhere in my mind, I felt that film festivals were for the actors and directors. However, since listening to Mr. Kushigeta’s story, I’ve come to believe that both the audience and the place called the theater are also the main characters in film festivals. Although we ourselves are far from being professionals, we've been able to envision being involved in films.

Introducing film screenings at places unhindered by venues, such as beaches and riverbanks.

--From 2015, you have been putting together outdoor film festivals such as the Kirikiri Sea & Forest Film Festival (2015–2018) and Morioka Starlight Film Festival (2020), right?

Takahashi: When we held a workshop with everyone to talk about the ideal film festival, the idea of showing films at the beach or riverside was put forward, and in the end we were able to make it happen. In the Kirikiri Sea & Forest Film Festival, we worked with locals and put up a screen on the beach in an area called Kirikiri in the town of Otsuchi. During quiet scenes, the sound of waves was the only sound you could hear, and a really happy mood enveloped us.

--Instead of just the film’s story, things like the environment the film was watched in and what you ate on the way home are part of the film experience, aren’t they?

Takahashi: That’s what I think. In the future, I want to try holding a screening not only outside, but in restaurants. I think it’d be interesting for the owners of various shops to pick films and have them watched at different places in each respective town.

--Speaking of that, Morioka has an area called Cinema Street that still has five movie theaters, doesn’t it?

Takahashi: Right. As the number of movie theaters nationwide has decreased, the circumstances of Cinema Street have also been gradually changing, but even so, I think you can still get a feel for the culture that the movie theater managers take pride in and have protected. We also hope that our activities will lead back to revitalizing Cinema Street in some way.

At first, I think people in the area thought of the Eiga no Chikara Project as a group of strange amateurs (laughs). However, after having continued activities for more than ten years, they’ve come to accept us. Hopefully, as a result of our various activities, people will recognize that Morioka is a city of film.

The late Director Nobuhiko Obayashi said, “Films should be within people’s reach.”

--Nowadays, streaming services have become more widespread than ten-plus years earlier when the Eiga no Chikara Project was launched, and I think there have also been changes in the environments in which people view films. How do you feel about the environment in which screenings are conducted?

Takahashi: Actually, I also previously asked Director Nobuhiko Obayashi* a question about the emergence of streaming. Director Obayashi answered something like, “Films should always be within people’s reach.” I wasn’t able to find out for certain what he meant by that, but for me, since hearing those words I’ve felt that I just want to strive to put films within people’s reach.

Also, I work in the restaurant business in the city, so I tend to think about how we can get people to gather together. The other day, we held the "early hours screening" event and screened Director Otomo's latest film, The Legend & Butterfly, at midnight on the day of the film's release. We also made original rice balls and cocktails based on the film. Ultimately, I once again felt the joy of people coming together and having rambunctious fun. I believe that kind of experience has an appeal that can’t be found in streaming.

*A representative film director of Japan, Obayashi is known for films such as "I Are You, You Am Me" (1982) and "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (1983), as well as films he made later in life including the trilogy of modern anti-war films, "Casting Blossoms to the Sky" (2012), "Seven Weeks" (2014), and "Hanagatami" (2017). Since his commercial film debut with House in 1977, he continued making films until his passing in 2020.

--Please tell us about what comes next for the Eiga no Chikara Project.

Takahashi: First, from next year we hope to hold another film festival. I don’t know if we’re going to bring back the Morioka Cinema Street Film Festival or create a whole new film festival, but first I’d like to ask our members for ideas.

Lately, I feel there are changes in the generation involved in film. Up to now, we’ve been carrying out activities with ourselves as core members, but in the next film festival I hope to do so while involving a different generation. The goal is for the activities to continue, even if we’re not always a main part of it.