Men with Movie Cameras
　—Shooting the Great Kanto Earthquake
（キャメラを持った男たち～関東大震災を撮る～）

10:30 / Thursday 16, May, 2024

JAPAN / 2023 / 81 min

It has been one hundred years since the Great Kanto Earthquake killed more than 100,000 people. Three men turned on their cameras of their own volition, in a mortally dangerous determination to capture the ensuing conflagrations. This work asks us to consider the meaning of recorded images that convey the thoughts and feelings of the filmmakers across generations.

On September 1, 1923, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Tokyo.  Released more than 100 years later, Men with Cameras – Capture the Great Kanto Earthquake retraces the trajectory of three men who voluntarily took up their movie cameras and documented the scene of this unprecedented disaster without being told what to do.  They risked aftershocks and threats from desperate people to continue filming, and their documentation spread across the country.  Director Minou Inoue rediscovers the archival footage they left behind and utilizes the cameras they used 100 years ago to re-document the Tokyo of today.  The film asks some of the most essential questions about documentaries.  With the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the presence of images from it, this question again acquires urgency and immediacy.  At the end of the film, an old camera captures a ceremony to mourn the Korean victims who died unjustly 100 years ago.  The film reminds us to the importance of documenting disasters not as a spectacle, but as a valuable resource for social mourning, truth-telling, and recovery.

Director: Minoru Inoue

Born in Nagoya City in 1965. He joined Gentosha, a company run by producer Katsuhiro Maeda, and then worked as a director’s assistant for directors such as Isshin Inudo and Yasuo Matsukawa, before making his first appearance in 1992 in “NON.”  Since then, he has been working on documentary films that utilize traditional cultural records and archive footage.

2021 “Mother’s Handiwork-Record of Daily Life- 78 minutes”
2018 “Continuing Expo 2018 Tower of the Sun Interior Open” 24 minutes
2016 “There is power in expression – “Minamata” producer speaks” 100 minutes
2014 “Kiraigae-A village where demons and Buddha live-” 37 minutes
2009 “Isao Onishi’s Kyu-lacquer entrusted to the vessel” 35 minutes