Masanori Oe

Masanori Oe (b. 1942) is a filmmaker, writer and translator. Moving to New York in his early twenties between 1965-68, he got involved in the Third World Studios together with Stan Vanderbeek and Jonas Mekas. Joining Marvin Fishman at Studio M2, Oe began filming protest activities as part of the Newsreel Collective. He participated in USCO’s psychedelic shows and translated his psychedelic experiences into his films Between the Frames (1967) and Salome’s Children (1968). Together with Yukihisa Isobe, he participated in the exhibition Some More Beginnings by E.A.T. at the Brooklyn Museum in 1968. His work in psychedelic culture and political activism came together in Great Society (1967), co-directed by Marvin Fishman, a six-screen collage of newsreel footage from the television broadcast company CBS who commissioned them to make it. Upon returning to Japan, he co-founded Newsreel Japan with filmmaker Masato Hara and photographers Takuma Nakahira and Kenji Kanesaka. They joined members of the collective Zero Jigen and others to halt the 1969 edition of Tokyo Film Art Festival at Sogetsu Art Centre on the grounds that the film festival’s competition format encouraged a hierarchy among films, an act that was met with controversy. He followed the collective Zero Jigen to shoot their film White Hare of Inaba (1970). He translated The Tibetan Book of the Dead, published in Japanese by Kodansha in 1974, and wrote extensively on his LSD experiences. He helped to found one of the first health-food stores in Japan and became an organic farmer. His works have recently been presented at Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern and Tokyo Photographic Art Museum.

おおえまさのり（1942年生）映像作家、作家、翻訳家。 二十代前半1965年から1968年の間、ニューヨークに移住、スタン・ヴァンダービーク、ジョナス・メカスと共に「Third World Studios」に参加。スタジオM2にてマーヴィン・フィッシュマンと共同し、Newsreel Collectiveの一環として抗議活動の撮影を開始。また、USCOが企画したサイケデリックイベントに参加、自らの幻覚体験を「Between the Frames」（1967）、「Salome's Children」（1968）といった作品に表現する。1968年、ブルックリン美術館でのE.A.T.主催「Some More Beginnings」展に磯辺行久と共に参加。また、サイケデリック文化と政治的アクティヴィズムにおける彼の仕事の結集である「Great Society」(1967)は、放送ネットワークCBSより製作を委嘱され、マーヴィン・フィッシュマンと共同監督し、CBSのニュース映像による６面スクリーンを使ったコラージュ作品である。帰国後、映像作家の原正人、写真家の中平卓馬、金坂健二と共にNewsreel Japanを発足。また、集団「ゼロ次元」のメンバーらと共闘、主催者によるコンペ形式の採用が映画のヒエラルキー化を助長することに抗議、草月アートセンターでの「フィルム・アート・フェスティバル1969東京」を中止に追い込む。「ゼロ次元」に同行し、映画「いなばの白うさぎ」（1970）を撮影。『チベットの死者の書』を邦訳し、1974年、講談社から出版される。LSD体験に関する文章多数。日本初の健康食品店の設立を援助し、有機栽培農家となる。近年ニューヨーク近代美術館（MoMA)、テートモダン、東京都写真美術館で作品を発表。

Bio written by Julian Ross; Translated by YS

Screening: Newsreel Documentaries of Masanori Oe

FEBRUARY 11, 2017
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE PHILADELPHIA

S NO.1, 1967, 5min, film transferred to video
HEAD GAME, 1967, 10min, film transferred to video
NO GAME, 1967, 17min, film transferred to video
SALOME’S CHILDREN, 1968, 7min, film transferred to video
BETWEEN THE FRAME, 10min, film transferred to video
GREAT SOCIETY, 1967, 18min, six-screen 16mm films transferred to single-channel video