The was a left-wing film organization, known as Prokino for short, active in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Japan. Associated with the proletarian arts movement in Japan, it primarily used small gauge films such as 16mm film and 9.5mm film to record demonstrations and workers' lives and show them in organized events or, using mobile projection teams, at factories and mines. It also published its own journals. Most of its films were documentaries or newsreels, but Prokino also made fiction films and animated films. Prominent members included Akira Iwasaki

Akira Iwasaki

was a prominent left-wing Japanese film critic, historian, and producer. Born in Tokyo, he became interested in film from his student days at Tokyo University. Early on, he helped introduce German experimental film in Japan, and was instrumental in getting Teinosuke Kinugasa's masterpiece A Page of...

 and Genjū Sasa

Genjū Sasa

was a left-wing Japanese film director and film critic. He was a founding member of the Proletarian Film League of Japan , providing inspiration to the movement through his writings and his films.- Bibliography :...

, although in its list of supporters one finds such famous figures as Daisuke Itō

Daisuke Itō (film director)

was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who played a central role in the development of the modern jidaigeki and samurai cinema.-Career:Born in Ehime Prefecture, Itō joined the actors school at Shōchiku in 1920, but soon began writing screenplays under the recommendation of Kaoru Osanai. He...

, Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...

, Shigeharu Nakano

Shigeharu Nakano

was a Japanese author and Communist Party politician.Nakano was born in Maruoka, now part of Sakai, Fukui. In 1914 he enrolled in middle school in Fukui, Fukui, and attended high school in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa and Kanazawa, Ishikawa. In 1924 he entered the German literature department of the...

, Tomoyoshi Murayama

Tomoyoshi Murayama

was a Japanese artist, playwright and drama producer active during the Showa period of Japan.-Early life:Murayama was born in the Kanda Suehiro district of Tokyo. His father, who was a medic in the Imperial Japanese Navy, died when he was nine years old. His mother became a fervent Christian after...

, Kiyohiko Ushihara

Kiyohiko Ushihara

was a Japanese film director most famous for his gendaigeki of the silent era.-Career:Born in Kumamoto Prefecture and graduating from Tokyo University, Ushihara joined the Shochiku studio in 1920 on the invitation of Kaoru Osanai...

, Kogo Noda

Kogo Noda

was a Japanese screenwriter most famous for collaborating with Yasujirō Ozu on many of the director's films.Born in Hakodate, Noda was the son of the head of the local tax bureau and younger brother to Kyūho, a Nihonga painter. He moved to Nagoya after completing elementary school and later went to...

, Takiji Kobayashi, Sōichi Ōya

Sōichi Ōya

was a Japanese journalist noted for his research and commentaries on popular culture. Born in Osaka, Japan, he showed an early interest in social issues, and after dropping out of the University of Tokyo, he became involved in the Japan Fabian Society...

, Fuyuhiko Kitagawa

Fuyuhiko Kitagawa

was a Japanese poet and film critic. His real name was Tadahiko Taguro. While born in Shiga Prefecture, he was raised in Manchukuo in China due to his father's work on the South Manchurian Railway, and then graduated from Tokyo University. He began publishing his own poetry in Manchukuo in 1924 and...

, Tokihiko Okada

Tokihiko Okada

was a Japanese silent film star in Japan during the 1920's and early 1930's. A Tokyo native, he first started at the Taikatsu studio and later he was a leading player for such legendary Japanese directors as Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. Film critic Tadao Sato recounts that Okada was among the...

, Matsuo Kishi

Matsuo Kishi

was a Japanese film critic, director, screenwriter, producer, and biographer. His real name was Aji Shūichirō. Born in Tokyo, he became interested in film from his days in high school and, continuing on to Keio University, began submitting reviews to magazines such as Kinema Junpo and editing...

, Kiyoshi Miki, Denmei Suzuki

Denmei Suzuki

was a Japanese film actor most famous for starring roles in gendaigeki of the silent era.- Career :Suzuki was born in Tokyo and was a championship swimmer at Meiji University when he first appeared in Souls on the Road in 1921 under the name Zeya Tōgō . After graduating in 1924, he joined the...

, Teppei Kataoka, and Shigeyoshi Suzuki

Shigeyoshi Suzuki (film director)

was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Born in Tokyo, Suzuki graduated from Meiji University and entered the Shōchiku studio in 1925. He debuted as a director the next year with Tsuchi ni kagayaku, a film starring Denmei Suzuki...

. The movement was eventually suppressed by the police under the Peace Preservation Law

Peace Preservation Law

The Public Security Preservation Laws were a series of laws enacted during the Empire of Japan. Collectively, the laws were designed to suppress political dissent.-the Safety Preservation Law of 1894:...

, but many former members became prominent figures in the Japanese documentary and fiction film industries.

External links

• Prokino - Documentary Box (Interview with Katsuo Noto and Shizuo Komori by Mamoru Makino and Aaron Gerow)
• Makino, Mamoru. "Rethinking the Emergence of the Proletarian Film League of Japan (Prokino)." In Praise of Film Studies: Essays in Honor of Makino Mamoru. Eds. Aaron Gerow and Abé Mark Nornes (Kinema Club, 2001).
• Prewar Proletarian Film Movements Collection. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. Full text of many Prokino publications.
• Prewar Proletarian Film Movements Collection: Films. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. Quicktime copies of six Prokino films.