Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara 
CWC Global: Japanese Paper Films
- Saturday, April 12, 2025 / 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (PDT)
- Pollock Theater
- Screening Format: 2K digital projection (65 minutes)
- With Eric Faden (curator) and Yoko Reikano Kimura and Hiraku Tamaki (musicians)
In the 1930s, several Japanese companies produced films made on paper (called kami firumu, 紙フィルム) instead of celluloid. Given the short period of production, the varying paper quality, and the devastation of WWII, very few paper film prints survive. Those that remain are too fragile to play on their original projectors, and most have not been seen in over 85 years. The Japanese Paper Film Project, which began at Bucknell University in 2019, is dedicated to preserving the surviving films. To do so, the project has gathered faculty and students to create a custom digital film scanner and bespoke software for reanimating the films. In 2023 and 2024, project members traveled to Japan and worked with museums, collectors, and film archives in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe to scan about 200 surviving film prints.
For this special screening, we present a curated collection of digitized Japanese paper films in a wide range of genres: live action documentary, abridged versions of live action Japanese and international feature films, and lots of anime. These animated films give us a peek into the origins of contemporary anime with films that celebrate samurais, rōnin, and ninjas, as well as fairytales about Shinto gods and mythological creatures. The program includes both silent and sound paper films, with each film running between 1 and 4 minutes. For those films without a soundtrack, Duo Yumeno (made up of koto player Yoko Reikano Kimura and cellist Hikaru Tamaki) will provide live accompaniment that blends traditional Japanese music with Western classical influences.
The program will begin with a brief introduction by curator and project lead Eric Faden (Film/Media Studies, Bucknell University). Following the screening, Faden, Kimura, and Tamaki will join moderator Alex Lilburn (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) onstage for a discussion about the Japanese Paper Film Project.
Photo: Collection of Paper Films at Kyoto’s Toy Film Museum.
This event is free but a reservation is recommended in order to guarantee a seat.
Biographies
Eric Faden (Film/Media Studies, Bucknell University)
Eric Faden is a Professor of Film/Media Studies at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. His research has appeared in a wide range of journals and anthologies, including the Journal of Open Source Software, Projections, A Guide to Videographic Criticism, and The Routledge Companion to Remix Studies. In 2017, he began researching Japanese cinema while teaching at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Since 2019, he has led the Japanese Paper Film Project at Bucknell University. The project is partnered with the Toy Film Museum in Kyoto, as well as the Itabashi Science Museum in Tokyo.
Musician Yoko Reikano Kimura (Duo Yumeno)
Yoko Reikano Kimura is one of the most captivating artistic voices of Japanese koto and shamisen. Based in the US and Japan, Kimura has played major venues around the world and is admired for her authoritative interpretation of the classics and her passionate advocacy of new music. Her performances have been featured at renowned venues such as the John F. Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. In 2009, Kimura founded Duo Yumeno with cellist Hikaru Tamaki. In 2019, Kimura and Tamaki held a Duo Yumeno Tenth Anniversary Recital to a sold-out audience at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
Musician Hikaru Tamaki (Duo Yumeno)
Hiraku Tamaki plays regularly as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player in the US and Japan. He served as the principal cellist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and was a member of the Freimann String Quartet from 2001 to 2013. Before joining the Philharmonic, he was an associate principal cellist of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and performed under the baton of Daniel Barenboim at Carnegie Hall. He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University and a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University, where his teachers were Paul Katz and Hans Jorgen Jensen. He performs regularly with Yoko Reikano Kimura under the moniker Duo Yumeno.
Moderator Alex Lilburn (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)
Alex Lilburn is a PhD candidate in Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He holds a BA in the History and Theory of Contemporary Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. Prior to coming to UCSB, he worked at the Sundance and Telluride Film Festivals and volunteered at Canyon Cinema in San Francisco. Currently, his research interests include avant-garde media practices and critical Indigenous studies.
This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center and the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music (CISM).
CWC Classics
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.
CWC Global
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.