The Mingei Film Archive is an ongoing project to locate, restore and preserve films on the history of craftsmanship in Japan and beyond. The Archive now consists of over 60 films, dating from 1925 to 1976, on pottery, paper, woodcraft and textiles in Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom and the US. Many of the films were in delicate and fragile condition requiring extensive repairs before digitization. All the films have been enhanced with new audio commentaries, edited from recordings made over the past ten years with craftspeople around the world.

For this lecture, filmmaker and potter Marty Gross will share with us how the Mingei Film Archive was created and developed. Films by Bernard Leach taken in 1934-35 will be shown along with other films on rural craft makers who inspired the central ideas of Japan’s Mingei Movement.

In addition to introducing his films Marty will speak about the process of film restoration and the way he engages with craftspeople to record their memories.

Marty Gross is a filmmaker and potter who divides his time between Canada and Japan. Marty studied pottery-making in Japan in the 1970’s and then began film making in 1974 in Toronto and continued in Japan. Over the years he has produced and directed award winning films such as As We Are (1974), Potters at Work (1976) and The Lovers’ Exile (1980). Marty has also produced numerous interviews with legends of Japan’s film world for distribution on DVD releases of classics of Japanese cinema. For many years he has collected and preserved films on craft making, especially the crafts of Japan. In 2008 he completed the first restoration, The Leach Pottery, 1952 in what became the impetus for his ongoing project, The Mingei Film Archive.

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