CWC Global: The Art of the Benshi

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 that will open with a pair of short films: the quirky Japanese animated short A Snipped Snake (1930) and Laurel and Hardy’s Liberty (1929) . Our feature presentation will be legendary avant-garde film A Page of Madness, released a century ago this year. Kataoka’s narration will be in Japanese, subtitled in English on screen. Following the performance, Ichiro Kataoka joined moderator Naoki Yamamoto (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of the benshi tradition. 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 first embarked on his career in 2002 when he asked the pioneering benshi Sawato Midori to take him on as an apprentice. In the intervening years, he has performed in more than eighteen countries, creating and enacting scripts for approximately 350 silent films (Japanese, Western, and Chinese) of all sorts of genres, including documentaries and animated works. In 2024, he served as lead benshi in the Yanai Initiative’s The Art of the Benshi 2024 World Tour. Makia Matsumura, a New York City-based silent film accompanist, has been captivating audiences for two decades with her live piano improvisations in front of the silver screen. As an alumna of the Pordenone Masterclasses, a distinguished program for emerging silent film accompanists, Makia’s music has played an integral role in silent film events at renowned venues internationally. Demonstrating remarkable musical talent from a young age, she has become a sought-after presence within the silent film community. In addition to her live performances, Makia has provided recorded scores for silent film releases from Kino Lorber, some of which have been featured on Turner Classic Movies and Netflix. She was also featured in the Yanai Initiative’s The Art of the Benshi 2024 World Tour. 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. He has published widely in both English and Japanese, covering topics such as the reception of early American cinema in 1910s Japan, wartime Japanese-German film co-productions, Japanese New Wave filmmakers of the 1960s, and recent Hollywood blockbuster films. This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center, the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities, and the James Hayman (’75) fund for CWC Classics. Media are global by nature; they express culture just as much as they transcend borders. The CWC Global series is dedicated to showcasing media from around the world. This series features screenings and events that place UCSB in conversation with international media makers and global contexts across our deeply connected world. The CWC Classics program celebrates cinema’s rich history, bringing classic films back to the big screen for critical viewing and discussion. These events feature filmmakers, academics, and professionals who can contextualize the production and historical impact of the films. The series occasionally presents classic films in their original 16 or 35 mm formats. CWC Classics events celebrate the history and significance of cinema’s enduring legacy.