Associate Professor of Japanese Kyoko Omori presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association at Waseda University in Tokyo on June 8.
Her talk, “Communicating Silents to an International Audience: Woman Benshi Sawato Midori,” explored the renewed significance of Japanese benshi, or live silent film narrators, in the context of contemporary and international silent film exhibitions.
From among a handful of contemporary benshi performers, Omori focused on Midori's narrative approach, examining her benshi setsumei (narration) alongside Mizoguchi Kenji’s 1935 film The Downfall of Osen.
