Un Poco De Luz Desde Osaka

Leo con atención la siguiente noticia facilitada por la sin par agencia de noticias japonesa Kyodo:

Theater in Osaka to screen ‘Yasukuni’ as planned
Thursday 03rd April

Yasukuni cartel

OSAKA, April 3 (AP) – (Kyodo)—A movie theater in Osaka has decided to screen a contentious documentary on the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in May as originally planned, theater officials said Thursday.
The decision by the Seventh Art Theater came after several theaters in Tokyo and Osaka scrapped plans to show the film, “Yasukuni,” by Chinese director Li Ying, following an unprecedented preview of the film for lawmakers in Tokyo.

More than 10 theaters across Japan are currently considering screening the 123-minute work, which won a best documentary award at the 32nd Hong Kong International Film Festival, but the theater in Osaka is the first to make its decision, according to the distributor.

The 96-seat Seventh Art Theater, mainly financed by the local people, has received emails and phone calls urging it not to scrap the screening, according to the officials.

“A theater, which has strong connections with the citizens, could serve as a place of discussions about films,” said Atsushi Matsumura, the 46-year-old manager of the cinema. “We would like to respond to viewers’ requests for the screening.”

“Yasukuni” tells the stories of people involved with the Yasukuni Shrine and their views about the war and Yasukuni.

Some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party called for a preview of the film last month, fearing that the documentary, which was granted state subsidies, may not be politically neutral.

Following the preview, political groups that are opposed to the film started to press cinemas not to screen it, prompting some cinemas to cancel the screening.

Traduzco por si acaso la última frase:

“Después del pase [realizado solamente para políticos y legisladores] grupos políticos contrarios a la película presionaron a las salas de cine para que no la exhibieran, instigando a algunas a cancelar los pases”.

Pequeño ejemplo este de lo mucho que se habla de los chinos ultimamente, y de lo poquísimo que nunca se habla de los japoneses.

Hay que congratularse por la noticia, y por ser en Osaka donde se estrene públicamente y por primera vez la película en Japón. En el Seventh Art Theatre, en el barrio de Juso, donde en su día disfruté de la visión de un par de películas. Gente seria, sin ánimo de lucro. Lástima de la escasez de subtitulaciones.

Oyasumi

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