If the combination of increased streaming platforms and closures following the COVID pandemic have put doubts on the place of cinema as an important cultural hub, then Katsuya Honda's “Kitakyushu, the City of Movies” is not particularly the remedy.
“Kitakyushu, the City of Movies” is screening at Busan International Short Film Festival
Kenichi (Ken Mitsuishi) runs a local cinema in north Kyushu. Single-minded, his love of cinema is clear, treating his projector with great care and reverence. Making sure the cinema is at its best, he is preparing for its reopening following the pandemic. Shouting the news to everyone around, many are skeptical, not believing it will open again. Despite the concerns of others, however, Kenichi is confident an audience will come, which they do, filling the cinema, including a young boy who reminds Kenichi of himself at that age.
Shown as part of “The Death of Cinema(s)” strand at Busan, Kenichi is an old workman pondering his favourite old tools, but feels very much like a relic of the past, rather than a dynamic technology with much future. The twee gentleness throughout also feels from a bygone era. While a community spirit is portrayed, Kenichi‘s conversation with the boy at the end makes cinema feel more like an individual experience for a chosen few cinephiles. Far from a commercial success.
Though, somewhat ironically, the Ogura Showakan – the location for this short – burnt down in August 2022, and so this particular cinema did suffer a death. The recent announcement the cinema will be rebuilt on the same site perhaps gives this a little more poignancy, and will no doubt provide fond memories for former patrons.
But with its very short runtime, this says little of the real issues that cinemas face with a cost-of-living crisis and streaming platforms offering a more varied product for less. This is a promotional film to encourage people back into cinemas as it's a better, more social experience. That may well be the case, but “Kitakyushu” is painted to be a world of nostalgia that seems a little detached from the modern reality. It may state ‘Films are made to be seen at the cinema' – though today that may not be as true as it once was – but shows little of the magic.
