Across the Equator (1936)

Sekido koete

Tsuburaya served both as director and cinematographer of this feature-length national policy documentary, supported by the naval ministry, which creates a sketch of life among cadets aboard a naval training vessel on a voyage around Indochina, Malaya, Hawaii and the South Pacific islands. The film clearly outlines the economic motives behind Japan’s southward expansion, but also presents the music and dance traditions of various regions, in what has been termed “folklore through sound”.

Date of release
1936-01-15
TMDB
10.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
1h 26m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Eiji Tsuburaya

Interesting facts

Across the Equator is a 1936 Japanese propaganda documentary film directed by Eiji Tsuburaya in his directorial debut. Produced and distributed by Nikkatsu, it was shot by Tsuburaya from February to August 1935, whom traveled across the Pacific on the cruiser Asama.

Production

Traveling on the cruiser ship Asama, director and cinematographer Eiji Tsuburaya filmed the film in Hawaii, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. According to the Museum of Modern Art, the film was prepared by Yoshio Osawa of J.O. Studios in Kyoto as a request by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to illustrate contemporary developments in Japanese sound film techniques.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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