HARA, Kazuo
Camera Obtrusa: The Action Documentaries of Hara Kazuo

Throughout the four decades of his career, Hara Kazuo has pursued the bizarre and disturbing margins of Japanese society, certain that central truths are to be found in fringe phenomena. His method of documentation, which he calls “action documentary,” pursues the shocking effect of the action film, following the gesture and staying in the moment – not commenting in voiceover from a safe distance. Hara’s innovations have transformed the art of documentary filmmaking.

Camera Obtrusa is the first full-length translation of Hara’s writings on his life and method – completed by the production notes for his most acclaimed film, The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987).

Born in 1945, Hara Kazuo was influenced as a young man by the protest movements that took place throughout Japan and the world in the late 1960s and 70s. He founded Shisso Productions in 1971 with his wife, producer, and primary collaborator Sachiko Kobayashi. He has published five documentary films thus far, including the award-winning The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On, Goodbye CP, A Dedicated Life, Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974, and Watashi no Mishima.

Translated by Pat Noonan and Takuo Yasuda. Foreword by Abé Mark Nornes.

Published by Kaya Press, 2009
Artists' Writings / Counterculture / Film & Video