Introduction by the Editor
Film of the Year
Achilles and the Tortoise
Festival Focus
Nippon Connection
Industry Spotlight
The Arts Theatre Guild
Cultural Crossover
Art & Film
Directors
Takeshi Kitano
Satoshi Kon
Akira Kurosawa
Alternative Japan
Anime / Animation
Chambara / Samurai Cinema
Contemporary Blockbusters
Jidaigeki & Gendaigeki / Period & Contemporary Drama
J-Horror / Japanese Horror
Kaiju Eiga / Monster Movies
Nuberu Bagu / The Japanese New Wave
Pinku Eiga / Pink Films
Yakuza / Gangster
John Berra is a writer and researcher specializing in contemporary Film Studies. His Ph.D thesis was on American Independent Cinema and its industrial networks, and he published his first book, Declarations of Independence: American Cinema and the Partiality of Independent Production (Intellect) in 2008. He is currently editing the forthcoming Directory of World Cinema: American Independent (Intellect, 2010).
'Editor John Berra announces in the acknowledgments that ‘this
volume was never intended to be a conventional film guide’. Rather
than the A-Z run through of titles, or a year-by-year account of
the highlights, Berra’s Directory offers instead a series of
chapters mainly grouped around genres. There is also, though, a
section on three key directors (Takeshi Kitano; Satoshi Kon and
Akira Kurosawa), a nod to the film of the year (Achilles and the
Tortoise) and a chapter on ‘The Art Theatre Guild’.[...] There are
also, however, many formal observations and little details of
character from the writers that make the book worthwhile, no matter
its limitations, none more so than Bob Davis’s astute comments on
Oshima’s Boy, with its useful analysis of colour in the film.
' Edinburgh Review 'Editor John Berra announces in the
acknowledgments that ‘this volume was never intended to be a
conventional film guide’. Rather than the A-Z run through of
titles, or a year-by-year account of the highlights, Berra’s
Directory offers instead a series of chapters mainly grouped around
genres. There is also, though, a section on three key directors
(Takeshi Kitano; Satoshi Kon and Akira Kurosawa), a nod to the film
of the year (Achilles and the Tortoise) and a chapter on ‘The Art
Theatre Guild’.[...] There are also, however, many formal
observations and little details of character from the writers that
make the book worthwhile, no matter its limitations, none more so
than Bob Davis’s astute comments on Oshima’s Boy, with its useful
analysis of colour in the film. ' – Tony McKibbin, Edinburgh
Review
'The writing throughout is of a consistently high standard,
incorporating a range of analytical approaches (be it
social-political, aesthetic, or genre-based) according to the
writers’ preferences. By focussing mainly on the cultural import of
films within specific genres, the directory presents a very
catholic selection. Admirably un-snobbish in its treatment of all
the covered films, the articles are always marked by the sense that
those writing are genuine fans.'
*Edinburgh Review*
*Subtitled Online*
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