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Planet at 50

Only superstars are recognizable by a single name, and “Planet” is one of them. This special series celebrates the monumental contributions of the Kobe Planet Film Archive to cinema history as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. A legendary institution and one of the largest private film archives in Japan, Planet by now stores almost 20,000 film prints along with huge amounts of additional material such as film posters, scripts and rare publications. Planet has discovered many seminal films initially thought lost and supplied many of the most well-known film festivals and institutions all over the world with its treasure trove of discoveries. Famous well beyond Japan, it has become a must-visit institution for film archivists, researchers and film festival programmers from all over the world.

Started in 1974 by its director Yasui Yoshio and several other enthusiasts as the Planet Bibliothèque de Cinéma in Osaka, it opened its first screening space in Osaka in 1995, followed by an additional movie theater in Kobe in 2007. Dedicated to the art of film in all its forms, the archive collects feature films, avant-garde documentaries, indie cinema, home movies, animation, pink film, silent film rarities and anything else from (not only) the rich history of Japanese cinema. It is also now a central gathering space for film researchers and historians to hold conferences and workshops, with Yasui himself having edited one of the definitive early works on the history of animation in Japan. Not simply an archive, Planet is a vibrant and internationally networked center of film education and research. With roots in the lively super-indie distribution scene of 1970s Japan, Planet has been driven primarily by volunteer work and individual initiative, above all Yasui Yoshio’s singular love for cinema. More recently it has gained increasing support from the city of Kobe and the Japanese government but remains a phenomenal grassroots effort.

This series presents a small selection of fascinating works from the treasure trove that Planet has amassed over the decades. The archive’s deep connections to animation are showcased, and its beginnings in screening activist cinema are on display in the extraordinary films of the documentary film collective NDU or the Jishu Film Collective and its founder, experimental film pioneer Ko Hiroh. Most of these films cannot be seen anywhere but at Planet; the Harvard Film Archive is delighted to present this very rare selection of extraordinary films. – Alexander Zahlten

Current and upcoming film series

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The Reincarnations of Delphine Seyrig

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Ben Rivers, Back to the Land

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Harvard Undergraduate Cinematheque

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Make Way for Tomorrow. Carson Lund’s Eephus

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Jessica Sarah Rinland’s Collective Monologue

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David Lynch, New Dimensions

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Museum Hours: Mati Diop’s Dahomey

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Albert Serra, or Cinematic Time Regained

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Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy