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Paper short abstract

This paper explores how Haneda Sumiko use the biographical genre as a tool for women’s history aiming to preserve women’s stories and to leave a visual trace of their bodies, political commitment, and everyday life.

Paper long abstract

Women’s lives, experiences and issues feature prominently in the documentaries directed by Haneda Sumiko often portrayed from a biographical perspective. Particularly in her post-Iwanami career as an independent filmmaker, Haneda employs the biographical genre as a tool for women’s history aiming to preserve women ́s stories and to leave a visual trace of their bodies, political commitment, and everyday life. This presentation will examine the biographical and autobiographical aspects of Haneda’s cinema focusing on three independently produced films: Women’s Testimony: Pioneer Women in Labour Movement (Onnatachi no shōgen –rōdō undō no naka no senkuteki joseitachi, 1996), In the Beginning, Woman was the Sun:The Life of Hiratsuka Raicho (Genshi josei wa taiyō de atta–Hiratsuka Raichō no shōgai, 2001), and Far-Away Home: Lushun and Dalian (Haruka naru furusato: Ryojun Dairen, 2011). I will argue that these films offer a distinct instance of Women’s Cinema in Haneda’s career, as they document the lives of women as embodied historical subjects and their participation in the history of Japan as a nation. Moreover, they are also testimony of the women’ communities, networks, and practices at work in modern and contemporary Japan, including the field of documentary filmmaking. Finally, these films allow us to interrogate the position and authorship of Haneda as a filmmaker, both in terms of gender and national politics.