Sacco and Vanzetti

For the past couple of months I've been watching a youtube channel called Cinema Nippon. Its a channel dedicated to Japanese cinema, but refreshingly doesn't focus on anime. I'm not knocking anime I love animation but the over focus on it is a bit tiring. I've been a fan of Japanese genre films since the mid 2000's after the success of Ring and the Grudge. I've expanded a bit more beyond horror and pulp action films and I really like the stuff covered by the channel.

I also really appreciate the obvious effort the show creators put into every episode. They do their research, every video has information on the technical aspects, the history of the casts and crews, and comments on the themes of the films as well as context from the cultural backgrounds and business practices at the time the films were shot and released. 

Indeed I've liked the channel so much I've frequently given them a plug on forums and twitter. They responded and thanked me for my support which was nice but I thought that was the end of it. Then about a couple of months ago the channel contacted me asking if I could help them with some research for some later videos. Specifically about anarchism, both in general and in particular Japanese anarchism.

I said I was happy to, I answered some questions and gave a list of recommended introductions, I also introduce them to some friends who are more knowledgeable about Japanese Nihilism. I felt a little bad about piling them with a list of books, and my friend also came up with an extensive list, but so far the first video on the series has been produced.

It is 1971s Sacco and Vanzetti an Italian dramatization of the arrest, trial and execution Nicola Sacco a boot maker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti a fish seller. Both were Italian immigrants, and both were anarchists.

Its an interesting video and I recommend the film its very engaging. Other videos are still in the works and I know the channel creators are doing their homework so I hope to see what else comes out of this.