Dvadesete FILMSKE MUTACIJE: FESTIVAL NEVIDLJIVOG FILMA pozivaju vas na program U POHVALU BENSHIJA za preozvučavanja japanskog filma atrakcija, koji počinje u kinu Kinoteka 5. listopada 2026. jednim od rijetkih sačuvanih filmova Kenjija Mizoguchija iz nijemog razdoblja Bijela nit vodopada (Taki no shiraito) čiji je naslov scensko ime tragičke protagonistice, izvođačice tradicionalne mađioničarske vodene umjetnosti. Film prikazujemo u izvornoj japanskoj scensko-filmskoj formi s benshijem Ichirom Kataokom i pijanisticom Makijom Matsumurom. Naš dugogodišnji umjetnički suradnik Ichiro Kataoka u proteklih je dvadeset godina izveo desetak svojih benshi scenarija na našim programima za kultne filmove japanske kinematografije, a glazbu za ovaj program komponira i izvodi njegova stalna umjetnička suradnica, pijanistica Makia Matsumura.
Benshi ili katsuben su filmski pjesnici iz mraka, izvođači koji uživo tijekom projekcije filma govore svoj izvedbeni script koji čine dijalozi, filmski natpisi, poetski komentari. Njihova umjetnost uključuje pisanje izvedbenog scenarija prema izvornim predlošcima povijesnih benshija i izvedbu za novu formu koja povezuje elemente književne, vizualne, kazališne i vokalne tradicije. Film s benshijem jedna je ranih višemedijskih formi ili heterogenih miješanih medija koje su se razvijale u Japanu početkom filmskog stoljeća.
The twentieth edition of FILM MUTATIONS: FESTIVAL OF THE INVISIBLE CINEMA invites you to the programme In Praise of Benshi – Re-soundings of Japanese Cinema of Attraction, which begins at Cinema Kinoteka in Zagreb on October 5, 2026 with one of the few surviving cinematic attractions by Kenji Mizoguchi from the silent period, The Water Magician or White Thread of Waterfall (Taki no shiraito), whose original title is the stage name of its tragic protagonist, a performer of the traditional magical water art. The film will be presented in the original Japanese silent-film tradition, with a live benshi performance by Ichiro Kataoka and piano accompaniment by Makia Matsumura. Over the past two decades, our long-standing artistic collaborator Ichiro Kataoka has presented some ten of his benshi performances as part of our programs devoted to cult films of Japanese cinema. The music for this program has been composed and will be performed by his long-standing artistic collaborator, pianist Makia Matsumura.
Benshi, or katsuben, are poets of the darkness of the cinema, performers who speak live alongside the projected image, weaving together dialogue, film intertitles, and poetic commentary in their own performance scripts. Their art combines the writing of scripts inspired by the work of historical benshi with live performance, creating a new form that brings together literary, visual, theatrical, and vocal traditions. The benshi film is one of the earliest multimedia forms or heterogenous commingled media to have developed in Japan at the dawn of the cinematic age.
Ichiro Kataoka diplomirao je na Kazališnom odsjeku Fakulteta za umjetnost Sveučilišta Nihon, s posebnim zanimanjem za glumu i koreografiju scenskih izvedbi, a 2020. je objavio knjigu o povijesti umjetnosti benshija. Jedan je od najuglednijih suvremenih benshi izvođača širokog raspona žanrova i stilova. Njegov repertoar za više od 400 naslova obuhvaća povijesne, suvremene i strane filmove, a autorski i izvedbeni stil povezuje povijesne tehnike filmske naracije i glume te suvremene prakse izvedbene umjetnosti sa zvučnim eksperimentima. Njegova benshi umjetnost omogućuje gledateljima ponovno ozvučavanje specifične povijesne multimedijalne prakse koja se u Japanu razvijala usporedno s različitim filmskim žanrovima i sve do sredine 1930-ih bila dijelom filmskog iskustva.
Makia Matsumura japanska je skladateljica, pijanistica i izvođačica glazbene pratnje uz nijeme filmove, česta suradnica benshija Ichira Kataoke. Rođena je u Tokiju, diplomirala je skladanje na Tokyo University of the Arts, a magistrirala na Juilliard School u New Yorku. S nijemim se filmom počela intenzivnije baviti 2003., kada je otkrila mogućnosti improvizirane klavirske pratnje. Godine 2007. sudjelovala je na prestižnom Pordenone Silent Film Festival Masterclassu, nakon čega je razvila međunarodnu karijeru pijanistice za nijeme filmove. Nastupala je u institucijama kao što su MoMA, Lincoln Center, Smithsonian i American Film Institute, kao i na festivalima u Europi i Japanu.
Ichiro Kataoka graduated from the Theatre Department of the Faculty of Art at Nihon University, with a particular interest in acting and the choreography of stage performances, and in 2020 published a book on the history of the art of the benshi. He is one of the most distinguished contemporary benshi performers, working across a wide range of genres and styles. His repertoire of more than 400 titles encompasses historical, contemporary and foreign films, while his authorial and performance style connects historical techniques of film narration and acting with contemporary practices of performance art and experiments with sound. His benshi art enables audiences to re-sound a specific historical multimedia practice that developed in Japan alongside different film genres and remained part of the cinematic experience until the mid-1930s.
Makia Matsumura is a Japanese composer, pianist and performer of musical accompaniment for silent films, and a frequent collaborator of benshi Ichiro Kataoka. Born in Tokyo, she studied composition at Tokyo University of the Arts and received her master’s degree from the Juilliard School in New York. She began working more intensively with silent film in 2003, when she discovered the possibilities of improvised piano accompaniment. In 2007, she participated in the prestigious Pordenone Silent Film Festival Masterclass, after which she developed an international career as a silent-film pianist. She has performed at institutions including MoMA, Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian and the American Film Institute, as well as at festivals in Europe and Japan.
JAPANSKI FILM ATRAKCIJA se nastavlja 12. listopada 2026. u Muzeju suvremene umjetnosti u Zagrebu s dvostrukim filmskim programom u izvedbi benshija Ichira Kataoke i pijanistice Makije Matsumure: Heroj Jiraiya (Goketsu Jiraiya / Jiraiya the Hero, Shozo Makino, 1921., 21 min) i jedinim predstavnikom povijesne filmske avangarde: Stranica ludila (The Page of Madness / Kurutta Ippeji, Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926., 70 min).
Također, Ichiro Kataoka i Tanja Vrvilo održat će izvedbeno predavanje o umjetnosti benshija 10. listopada 2026. u 13:30 na manifestaciji Dan Japana koju Veleposlanstvo Japana u Hrvatskoj organizira u Hotelu Sheraton u Zagrebu, uz film Krvoproliće u Takatanobabi (Chikemuri Takata no baba / Blood-Splattered Takatanobaba), Daisuke Ito, 1928., 13 min.
JAPANESE CINEMA OF ATTRACTIONS continues on 12 October 2026 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb with a double film programme performed by benshi Ichiro Kataoka and pianist Makia Matsumura: Jiraiya the Hero (Goketsu Jiraiya, Shozo Makino, 1921, 21 min) and the sole representative of the historical film avant-garde, The Page of Madness (Kurutta Ippeiji, Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926, 70 min).
Ichiro Kataoka and Tanja Vrvilo will also give a performance-lecture on the art of the benshi on 10 October 2026 at 13:30 at the Japan Day, an event organized by the Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Croatia at the Sheraton Hotel in Zagreb, accompanied by the film Blood-Splattered Takatanobaba (Chikemuri Takata no baba, Daisuke Ito, 1928, 13 min).
Program se odvija u partnerstvu s Kinom Kinoteka i Muzejom suvremene umjetnosti u Zagrebu, Veleposlanstvom Japana Republike Hrvatske, uz podršku i suradnju Japanske fondacije u Budimpešti te japanskih filmskih organizacija i institucija Yanai Initiative i Sveučilište Waseda, National Film Archive of Japan, Matsuda Film Productions koji organiziraju programe umjetnosti benshija u Maison de la culture du Japon u Parizu i Festivalu nijemog filma u Pordenoneu – Le Giornate del Cinema Muto. | The programme takes place in partnership with Cinema Kinoteka and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, and the Embassy of Japan in Croatia, with the support and collaboration of The Japan Foundation, Budapest, as well as Japanese film organisations and institutions including the Yanai Initiative – Waseda University, the National Film Archive of Japan, and Matsuda Film Productions, with benshi programmes at the Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris and the Pordenone Silent Film Festival.
Prikazivanje filmova su omogućili | The films were made available courtesy of: The National Film Archive of Japan, Matsuda Film Productions, u suradnji s Le Giornate del Cinema Muto.
Izvedbeni tekst benshija Ichira Kataoke preveli su Petra Jaklin i Marko Godeč. | The benshi performance script by Ichiro Kataoka was translated by Petra Jaklin and Marko Godeč.
Ovim programom najavljujemo 20. izdanje festivala o politikama filmskog kustostva FILMSKE MUTACIJE: FESTIVAL NEVIDLJIVOG FILMA pod naslovom FANTOM EKLIPSE za međunarodnu rizomatsku Odiseju crnog svjetonazora, kako je Ante Peterlić naslovio déjà-vu film noira. U pohvalu sjene, filmski kaosmos preuzima totalitet eklipse kao trop ustrajne inverzije hladnoće i usijanja medija prema recentnim istraživanjima liminalnih zona penumbre i pomrčine pokretnih slika. Festivalski program otvaramo 19. studenoga 2026. u kinu Kinoteka s Albertom Serrom i njegovim novim filmom u izvedbi Ingrid Caven Šesnaest trenutaka moga života (Seize moments de ma vie).
With this programme, we announce the 20th edition of FILMSKE MUTACIJE: FESTIVAL OF INVISIBLE CINEMA, a festival devoted to the politics of film curatorship, under the title PHANTOM OF THE ECLIPSE, conceived as an international rhizomatic Odyssey of the black worldview, as Ante Peterlić called the déjà-vu of film noir. In praise of the shadow, the cinematic chaosmos takes up the totality of the eclipse as a trope of the persistent inversion of the medium’s coldness and heat, in response to recent explorations of the liminal zones of the penumbra and the eclipse of moving images. We open the festival programme on 19 November 2026 at Kinoteka with Albert Serra and his new film, performed by Ingrid Caven, Sixteen Moments of My Life (Seize moments de ma vie).
Filmske mutacije: festival nevidljivog filma su projekt o politikama filmskog kustostva i promišljanje modusa prijenosa filmskog dispozitiva u digitalnom dobu, koji je pokrenula 2007. godine u Zagrebu izvedbena umjetnica i filmska kustos Tanja Vrvilo. | Film Mutations: Festival of Invisible Cinema is a project on the politics of film curatorship and modes of migration of the cinematic dispositif in the digital era, initiated in 2007 by pereformance artist and filmologist Tanja Vrvilo.
Dio programa Filmskih mutacija odvija se u sklopu programske aktivnosti Filmski festival – mjesto za sve koju provodi Hrvatski savez slijepih u okviru Javnog poziva za predlaganje programa koji omogućuju pristup i dostupnost kulturnih sadržaja za osobe s invaliditetom i djecu i mlade s teškoćama u razvoju u Republici Hrvatskoj u 2026. godini. | Part of the Film Mutations is co-organized in the framework of Film Festival – A Place for Everyone, a programme implemented by the Croatian Blind Union under the 2026 Public Call for Proposals supporting access to and availability of cultural content for persons with disabilities and children and young people with developmental difficulties in the Republic of Croatia.
Produkcija i podrška | Production and support: Umjetnička organizacija Film-protufilm, Hrvatski audiovizualni centar, Ministarstvo kulture i medija Republike Hrvatske, Grad Zagreb – Ured za kulturu i civilno društvo, Zaklada Kultura nova, Veleposlanstvo Japana u RH, The Japan Foundation – Budapest, Yanai Initiative, Waseda University.
