When Movie Stars Shine in SREEN Magazine

Saturday, Apr.5 - Sunday, Jul.27, 2025

In May 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, Kindai Eiga-sha launched film magazine SCREEN, featuring Tyrone Power and Setsuko Hara on the double-sided cover of its inaugural issue. At ethe time, Japan was under Allied Occupation and with only a limited number of films being released, SCREEN initially introduced foreign cinema with a focus on the portfolios of its leading stars. After the dissolution of the Central motion Picture Exchange (CMPE) - the sole distributor of foreign films in Japan during the occupation years - the number of international films entering the country grew, with SCREEN playing a key role in introducing Japanese audiences to rising stars such as James Dean , Audrey Hepburn, and Alain Delon.

From 1959 onward, SCREEN placed greater emphasis on its on-site reporting. Shuzo Kossugi, who later became president ok Kindai Eiga-sha, traveled to the U.S. as the magazine’s first Hollywood correspondent at a time when overseas travel remained difficult, bringing readers firsthand accounts from those within the American film industry. Following Kosugi, this journalistic torch was carried forward by the beloved Yani Begakis, a longtime "star correspondent" with the magazine, and later by Yoko Narita, who has now been covering Hollywood for over thirty years.

This exhibition explores the history of Kindai Eiga-sha through the lens of SCREEN, tracking its evolution alongside Japan's postwar film industry and its many innovative efforts to capture the hearts of movie fans.