The , shortened to Prokino, was a left-wing film organization active in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Japan. Associated with the proletarian arts movement in Japan, it primarily used small gauge films such as

16mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

and 9.5mm film to record demonstrations and workers' lives and show them in organized events or, using mobile projection teams, at factories and mines. It also published its own journals. Most of its films were

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

or newsreels, but Prokino also made fiction films and

animated films Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

. Prominent members included Akira Iwasaki and

Genjū Sasa (14 January 1900 – 7 July 1959) was a left-wing Japanese film director and film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic ...

, although in its list of supporters one finds such figures as Daisuke Itō,

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese filmmaker who directed roughly one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include '' The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952), '' Ugetsu'' (1953), and ' ...

, Shigeharu Nakano, Tomoyoshi Murayama,

Kiyohiko Ushihara was a Japanese film director most famous for his gendaigeki of the silent era. Career Born in Kumamoto Prefecture and graduating from Tokyo University, Ushihara joined the Shochiku studio in 1920 on the invitation of Kaoru Osanai. Starting ou ...

, Kogo Noda, Takiji Kobayashi, Sōichi Ōya, Fuyuhiko Kitagawa,

Tokihiko Okada (February 18, 1903 – January 16, 1934) was a silent film star in Japan during the 1920s and early 1930s. A native of Tokyo, he first started at the Taikatsu studio and later became a leading player for Japanese directors such as Yasujirō O ...

Matsuo Kishi (18 September 1906 – 17 August 1985) was a Japanese film critic, director, screenwriter, producer, and biographer. His real name was Aji Shūichirō. Born in Tokyo, he became interested in film from his days in high school and, continuing on to K ...

, Kiyoshi Miki, Denmei Suzuki, Teppei Kataoka, and Shigeyoshi Suzuki. The movement was eventually suppressed by the police under the

Peace Preservation Law The was a Japanese law enacted on April 22, 1925, with the aim of allowing the Special Higher Police to more effectively suppress alleged socialists and communists. In addition to criminalizing forming an association with the aim of altering the ...

, but many former members became prominent figures in the Japanese documentary and fiction film industries.

References

External links

Prokino
- ''Documentary Box'' (Interview with Katsuo Noto and Shizuo Komori by Mamoru Makino and Aaron Gerow) * Makino, Mamoru.
Rethinking the Emergence of the Proletarian Film League of Japan (Prokino)
" ''In Praise of Film Studies: Essays in Honor of Makino Mamoru''. Eds. Aaron Gerow and Abé Mark Nornes (Kinema Club, 2001).

Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. Full text of many Prokino publications.
Prewar Proletarian Film Movements Collection: Films
Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. QuickTime copies of six Prokino films. Film organizations in Japan Political art Japanese political films 1930s in Japanese cinema Far-left politics in Japan 1920s in Japanese cinema {{film-org-stub