About the talk

A medical physician with a passion for cinema, Tarō Nakayama (1917–1992) was a pioneering amateur filmmaker working in postwar Japan. Operating from a home studio in Fukuoka, he self-produced a series of ambitious 8mm films throughout the 1950s and 60s while running a successful medical practice. His film work spans both fiction and non-fiction, ranging from local documentaries on regional craftmaking and cultural traditions to cinematic bedtime stories realised with handmade puppets and detailed dioramas.

This talk traces Nakayama’s life in amateur film, from his early experiments with 8mm to his later production of medical and educational films. It introduces key works including On a Clear Autumn Day (Akibare no hi ni, 1955), Little Bear Story (Koguma monogatari, 1956) and The Travelling Actors (Tabiyakusha, 1958), that received recognition at amateur film festivals in Japan and abroad. It also explores his contributions to Fukuoka’s postwar amateur film culture, such as the formation of various film groups, teaching activities, and his appearances on Invitation to 8mm (Hachimiri e no shōtai) in the late 1950s and early 60s, a local television programme dedicated to 8mm filmmaking.

About the speaker

Mark Player is an independent scholar who specialises in East Asian cinema, with a focus on Japanese amateur, underground and independent film cultures. He is the author of Japanese Cinema and Punk: Intermedial Exchanges (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025), as well as numerous academic articles and book chapters on Japanese film and other media. He previously taught film at the University of Reading, UK, on world cinema, film festivals and film practice.

About the Fukuoka City Public Library Film Archive

Established in 1996, the Fukuoka City Public Library Film Archive (FCPLFA) is an affiliate of the International Federation of Film Archives and houses more than 3,300 titles in 35mm, 16mm, and digital formats of moving image works, representing over 30 Asian countries and regions from Japan to Turkey. These include films that are presented through the Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival. The FCPLFA collection stands as an important cultural resource that preserves and shares the region’s cinematic histories with future generations. These films are accessible to the public through screenings and feature programmes at Movie Hall CINÉ-LÀ in Fukuoka.

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With support from Nagase Film Foundation

This talk is part of the programme Reciprocal 2026. For more on the programme. Please click here. 

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