Cinema of Asia
[2][3][4] Mo-Ti, a Chinese philosopher circa 500 BC, pondered the phenomenon of inverted light from the outside world beaming through a small hole in the opposite wall in a darkened room.
[5] The first Indian short film was also produced in 1898, The Flower of Persia, directed by Hiralal Sen.[6] In the early 1900s, Israeli silent movies were screened in sheds, cafes and other temporary structures.
It was followed by India's first feature-length silent film, the period piece drama Raja Harishchandra (1913), by Dadasaheb Phalke, considered the father of Indian cinema.
[10] Studios emerged across major cities such as Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai as filmmaking became an established craft by 1935, exemplified by the success of Devdas, which had managed to enthrall audiences nationwide.
[12][13][14] Many of the most critically acclaimed Asian films of all time were produced during this period, including Yasujirō Ozu's Late Spring (1949) and Tokyo Story (1953); Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954) and Throne of Blood (1957); Kenji Mizoguchi's The Life of Oharu (1952), Sansho the Bailiff (1954) and Ugetsu (1954); Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), The Music Room (1958) and Charulata (1964); Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959); and Fei Mu's Spring in a Small Town (1948), Raj Kapoor's Awaara (1951), Mikio Naruse's Floating Clouds (1955), Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), and Ritwik Ghatak's Subarnarekha (1962).
[12][13] During Japanese cinema's 'Golden Age' of the 1950s and 1960s, successful films included Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954) and The Hidden Fortress (1958) by Akira Kurosawa, as well as Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953) and Ishirō Honda's Godzilla (1954).
Other famous Japanese filmmakers from this period include Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Hiroshi Inagaki and Nagisa Oshima.
One of the most famous was The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959) from critically acclaimed Bengali film director Satyajit Ray, whose films had a profound influence on world cinema, with directors such as Akira Kurosawa,[16] Martin Scorsese,[17][18] James Ivory,[19] Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Kazan, François Truffaut,[20] Steven Spielberg,[21][22][23] Carlos Saura,[24] Jean-Luc Godard,[25] Isao Takahata,[26] Gregory Nava, Ira Sachs, Wes Anderson[27] and Danny Boyle[28] being influenced by his cinematic style.
According to Michael Sragow of The Atlantic Monthly, the "youthful coming-of-age dramas that have flooded art houses since the mid-fifties owe a tremendous debt to the Apu trilogy".
Other famous Indian filmmakers from this period include Guru Dutt,[13] Ritwik Ghatak,[12] Mrinal Sen, Bimal Roy, K. Asif and Mehboob Khan.
The period saw the introduction of the studio system of filmmaking in Malaysia and influx of influences from Hollywood, the emerging cinema of Hong Kong, and particularly the Indian and Japanese film industries which were themselves experiencing a Golden Age.
[35][36] The late 1950s and 1960s was also a 'Golden Age' for Philippine cinema, with the emergence of more artistic and mature films, and significant improvement in cinematic techniques among filmmakers.
The premiere Philippine directors of the era included Gerardo de Leon, Gregorio Fernandez, Eddie Romero, Lamberto Avellana, and Cirio Santiago.
[37][38] The cinema of South Korea also experienced a 'Golden Age' in the late 1950s and 1960s,[39] beginning with director Lee Kyu-hwan's tremendously successful remake of Chunhyang-jon (1955).
[40] That year also saw the release of Yangsan Province by the renowned director, Kim Ki-young, marking the beginning of his productive career.
South Korean films, such as Lee Byeong-il's 1956 comedy Sijibganeun nal (The Wedding Day), had begun winning international awards.
[41] The year 1960 saw the production of Kim Ki-young's The Housemaid and Yu Hyun-mok's Aimless Bullet, both of which have been listed among the best Korean films ever made.
[43] In 1962, Shaheed (Martyr) pronounced the Palestine issue on the silver screen and became an instant hit, leading to a changing tide in the attitude of filmmakers.
[52] During the 1980s, Japanese cinema – aided by the rise of independent filmmaking and the spectacular success of anime – began to make something of an international comeback.
Jackie Chan reinvented the martial arts film genre with a new emphasis on elaborate and dangerous stunts and slapstick humour, beginning with Project A (1983).
With the post-1980 rise in popularity of East Asian cinema in the West, Western audiences are again becoming familiar with many of the industry's filmmakers and stars.
Prominent films of this period include Late Marriage (Dover Koshashvili), Broken Wings, Walk on Water and Yossi & Jagger (Eytan Fox), Nina's Tragedies, Campfire and Beaufort (Joseph Cedar), Or (My Treasure) (Keren Yedaya), Turn Left at the End of the World (Avi Nesher), The Band's Visit (Eran Kolirin) Waltz With Bashir (Ari Folman), and Ajami.
