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Paper short abstract:

Exploring the creative practices of two film 'circles' (sākuru) in the district of Nishijin, Kyoto, this paper queries the demarcation between consumers of the creative arts, and creative practitioners, as in each case a love of cinema inspires the group to pursue collaborative creative practices.

Paper long abstract:

This paper contrasts the group creative activities of two film 'circles' (sākuru) in the crafts and manufacturing district of Nishijin, Kyoto, in order to trouble the demarcation between consumers of the creative arts, and creative practitioners. The Kyoto kiroku eiga o miru kai, or the Meeting to Watch Documentary Films ran from April 1955 to March 1962, and collaboratively produced Nishijin, which won the short-documentary award at the Venice Film Festival in 1961. Following the producers' bankruptcy and a fire at the offices, the film circle folded, and was reborn again as Shi dokyumentari shinema (Shidofu) in in June 1964. The core members of Shidofu would go on to create the Kinugasa jōeikai, a film circle operated by elderly residents in Kyoto which collaboratively creates film events, written materials, and participated in my own documentary filmmaking.

As Janet Staiger observes, "historical circumstances sometimes create 'interpretative communities' or cultural groups such as fans who produce their own conventionalized modes of reception" (2000, 23). In this case, the historical circumstances of the urban area of Nishijin gave rise to an active and politically engaged mode of reception that culminated in an attempt at production. Jackie Stacey has argued that group exchanges "condense and make more tangible the collaborative, and yet always enigmatic, production of a sense of self" (2013, 51). This paper aims to draw out how group-based amateur arts practice informs the building of our life-worlds, and problematize any easy demarcation between consumers of creative arts and creative practitioners.