Manchukuo Film Association
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Manchukuo Film Association Ltd. (Chinese: 株式會社滿洲映畫協會) also known as the "Manchuria Film Production", was a Japanese film production company in Northeast China in the 1930s and 40s. It is one of the most controversial company in the history of Chinese cinema, since the company can be seen as a cultural expansion for Japan or a cultural invasion for China.
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[edit] Early History
The company was initiated by the Japanese in Manchukuo. The Japanese spent 5 years on the R&D beginning in 1937. By August 14, 1937 the puppet government of Manchukuo announced the company as a legal and official entity. Japan began the financial sponsorship from August 21st of the same year. Manchukuo Film Association's original address was the "Wool Fabric Weaving Club" at 55 Main st at the Jilin Architectural Institute (吉林省建筑设计院) in Jilin Province, China. The studio base was borrowed from a warehouse. The Tokyo architect Matsutani (增谷麟) modeled the studio design after the German's Universum Film AG studio. On November 1939 the construction was finished at 20 Red Flag St. In 1939 the head of Manchukuo's Ministry of Civil Affair (甘粕正彦), known in Japan as Masahiko Amakasu, became the head of the Manchukuo Film Association. At the time the production was limited to 3 types of films categorized by "People's story", "Educational" or "Documentary". At the height of the studios production, the actress (李香兰) was considered one of China's biggest star. She made 108 films, a lot of which is considered propaganda material today. She operated under the name Li Xianglan and made no association to her Japanese name "Yoshiko Otaka" for political reasons. The Japanese government continued to finance the association in an effort to speak as positively about the Manchukuo government as possible.
[edit] Separation
In 1945 the Japanese surrendered as part of WWII, and the studio was disintegrated. The head of the association, Masahiko Amakasu, committed a suicide by taking poison pills. In August 1945 the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang fought over the rights to the company. Soon the northeast movie actor union and the Northeast Film Studio began merging together with the association. By April 1946 the Communist Party of China officially took control of the association, making it China's property. In May of the same year, Jinshan (金山) became the new chairman. The collection of studios would be consolidated into the Changchun Film Studio making it the central point of movie production for the new generation.
[edit] Archive
Due to the geographical location of where Manchukuo sits in relation to where Manchuria is today, the film association was as much owned by China as it was to the Soviet Union at the end of the 1940s. As much as half of the companies information was lost in the transition to the Soviets. In May 1995, Japan repurchased the films that were in the lost segment. Initially Japan recreated the films at 30 episodes to be sold in Japan at 300,000 yen. The people of China were complaining about the legitimacy of the matter, since the films were reproduced without China's consent. Japan agreed to give the film (晚香玉), (皆大欢喜) and some documentaries back as compensation. Some are preserved today in China's film archive, others are preserved in the Changchun Film Studio.
