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CWC Global: The Art of the Benshi
with Ichiro Kataoka (benshi)
and Makia Matsumura (pianist)
Saturday, February 28 / 2:00 PM
Pollock Theater, UCSB
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This special program offers audiences the opportunity to experience the mesmerizing artistry of Ichiro Kataoka, one of Japan’s most celebrated benshi, or “movie orators.” At the peak of the benshi tradition in the 1910s and 1920s, over 7000 benshi were employed in Japan to introduce silent films and provide narration. The Carsey-Wolf Center is pleased to offer contemporary audiences a rare chance to experience this unique art form. Joined by Makia Matsumura on piano, Kataoka will perform a program featuring the legendary avant-garde film A Page of Madness, released a century ago this year, alongside Laurel and Hardy’s Liberty (1929) and the quirky Japanese animated short Half a Snake (1930). Kataoka’s narration will be in Japanese, subtitled in English on screen.
Benshi Ichiro Kataoka will join moderator Naoki Yamamoto (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion.
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Ichiro Kataoka
(benshi)
Ichiro Kataoka is among the most prominent and highly regarded contemporary benshi, celebrated not only in Japan but around the world for his dynamic, nuanced performances. He started his career in 2002 when pioneering benshi Sawato Midori to took him on as an apprentice. He has performed in more than eighteen countries, creating and enacting scripts for approximately 350 silent films. In 2024, he served as lead benshi in the Yanai Initiative’s The Art of the Benshi 2024 World Tour.
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Makia Matsumura
(pianist)
Makia Matsumura is a New York City-based silent film accompanist who has been performing live piano improvisations for two decades. She is an alumna of the Pordenone Masterclasses, a distinguished program for emerging silent film accompanists, and has played events at internationally renowned venues. Makia has also provided recorded scores for silent film releases from Kino Lorber, some of which have been featured on Turner Classic Movies and Netflix.
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Naoki Yamamoto
(Film and Media Studies, UCSB)
Naoki Yamamoto specializes in film theory, Japanese cinema, Marxist criticism, documentary films, avant-garde art, post-colonial studies, and Japanese cultural history. His book Dialectics without Synthesis: Japanese Film Theory and Realism in A Global Frame explores Japan’s active but previously unrecognized participation in the global circulation of film theory during the first half of the twentieth century.
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