Wartime Film Production

During the war, films, a form of entertainment, were subject to controls and the cinema became a means for popularizing the war effort. According to the Film Law established in 1939, movie theaters were obligated to play newsreels of the war and related news as well as cultural films showing nature and the everyday lives of the Japanese. As the war progressed, conditions became harsher and film grew scarce, resulting in an even stricter national system of control. Movie studios began merging, leading in 1941 to the establishment of the Japan Film Corporation, the company that would later produce this A-bomb documentary film.

Building of Nihoneigasha
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[2]
Japan Film Corporation building

Around 1951, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Courtesy of Nichiei Archive
In 1940, news films produced by newspaper companies were integrated into "Japan News," which was produced by the Japan News Film Corporation. In the following year the Japan News Film Corporation became the Japan Film Corporation, which then absorbed a large number of cultural film companies as well.


[3]

[3]
Movie theater program

November 26 to December 29, 1941
Collection of Hiroshima Municipal Archives
The Film Law made it obligatory for movie theaters to show news films and cultural films authorized by the government.
[4][5]

Japan Film Corporation armband and company emblem
Donated by Nobuo Kano and Motoko Kano