After I decided to host the first screening of moonbow cinema on the day of the harvest moon, Sunday, September 2015, I started preparation by searching for movie and location to realize the concept of moonbow cinema, a screening event which selects location based on the story of each film.

For movie, because I want to talk about moonbow cinema with anyone in the film industry without any hesitation, I rent DVD authorized to be shown in public. I looked for the company that I can rent such DVD and found Movies Management Company (*1) in Tokyo. This company lends movie DVDs for public screening for non-movie theaters.

I called to Movie Management Company and first learned the rental fee. The pricing for non-theater screening is based on the combination of the frequency of screening, the number of attendees and the ticket price. In addition, the charge is different from movie to movie. Most movies only allow admission free screening. Even though some movies accept admission charge, there is a cap of price as five dollars. This complex system made me realize that the movie industry is really about the rights. I did simulation and reached a conclusion that the cost to host a screening event is the lowest when the event is admission free.

I started moonbow cinema because I wanted to. After I learned the complex rental fee system for screening, it became crisp clear that I host screening event from my personal motivation, not for business. For me, moonbow cinema is something I really love. I take this really seriously. My favorite movies include many documentary movies about artists. Christo and Jeanne-Claude (*2) and Bill Cunningham (*3) told me that I should have control on everything if I really, really and really love something by preparing all money by myself. I’m aware that there are ways to collect money by finding sponsors or collecting membership fee from attendees. However, since I have a steady job, I decided to host moonbow cinema first within my capacity of money and time.

The other thing I learned to rent a movie is that the location has to be fixed to apply for the rent. I made a long list from the movies for rent, asked for the rental fee, shortened the list, searched for the screening location on the internet, and visited to find out the best combination of film and location for the first screening.

The location I found is a room on the upper floor of 10°café (*4) . The building is along the river and covered by ivy. I imagined a beautiful full moon over the river on the day of screening. I chose Never Let Me Go (*5) to show there since the building seemed matching to the school and house in the film. Also, the timing seemed good because Kazuo Ishiguro, the author of original novel Never Let Me Go, was on the media. In May, he released the latest novel The Buried Giant for the first time after a decade he published Never Let Me Go in 2005.

The date, time, location and movie are fixed. The next step is to let people know about moonbow cinema’s first screening event.(To be continued.)