New silent film with live performance “I Am Jam” at Motomachi Movie Theater in Kobe, first screening in Hyogo Prefecture

　A new silent film “I Am Jam” with katsuben (live benshi) will be screened for the first time in Hyogo Prefecture on Dec. 17 at the Motomachi Cinema, a mini-theater in Kobe’s Motomachi Shopping Arcade 4-chome. will be screened at the Motomachi Movie Theater (4 Motomachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe; tel 078-366-2636 ), a mini-theater in Kobe’s Motomachi Shopping Arcade 4-chome, on December 17.

Jam, the main character who delivers pizzas

　This is the first screening of the film in Hyogo Prefecture. Actor and filmmaker Nagiko Tsuji teamed up with Kansai-based benshi (motion picture narrator) Kumiko Omori to produce this “katsuben eiga” (silent film with katsuben = live benshi).

　The film tells the story of Jam, a pizza store clerk played by Ms. Tsuji, who travels around a virus-infested planet, collecting pizza pieces one by one and completing them to restore energy to the universe. Taking advantage of the appeal of silent films, the cast calls out to the audience from the screen, and a benshi (a Japanese traditional Japanese dialectist) appears on the screen, something that has never been seen in silent films before.

　Kanpei Hazama plays Jam’s grandfather and Muga Tsukaji (Drunk Dragon) plays the king. The narration is by Omori, who is said to have a “voice of seven colors,” and piano accompaniment is provided by silent film pianist Haruka Amamiya.

　Weekdays are the recorded version with katsuben and music, and weekends are the katsuben version with activity photo benshi and piano accompaniment, which will be shown sequentially throughout Japan starting at Kyoto Minami Kaikan on the 25th of this month. At Motomachi Cinema, the katsuben version will be screened and a talk show after the film on December 17 and 18, and the recorded version will be shown from December 19 to 23.

　Ms. Tsuji said, “After a long time, the idea of acting out the world I have envisioned for myself, which I have been doing since I was a student, finally took shape as a feature film. This is what I wanted to do most as a comedienne. This new silent film was completed with the help of various people who have helped me in the past. With the addition of the narration by benshi Kumiko Omori and the piano by Haruka Amamiya, we have created an extraordinary toy film that no one has ever seen before. We hope this film will bring a lot of people to movie theaters nationwide.

　Screening times and talk show schedule after the 19th will be posted on the website.