From the Big Screen to the Small Screen: Furuya Gets Movies onto Cell Phones By Katie Steele The 2003 Large Format Cinema Association (LFCA) Conference and Film Festival united top producers, directors, distributors, cinematographers and other industry professionals from around the world May 14-16. In between screenings, informational sessions and promotions at the Imax Theater at the Bridge Cinema Delux and the California Science Center I was able to speak with Kasho Furuya, the Regional Vice President for Asia on the LFCA Board and President of Cinema Japan Co. Ltd. As the leading film distributor in Japan, it is his responsibility to select the top feature films to premiere in the upcoming year, which theaters they will be featured at, manage creative marketing campaigns and to develop new and innovative markets in Japan for the medium. Kasho is also the primary cultural news contact in Asia for Los Angeles. While discussing college life over steak sandwiches and french fries, the topic of conversation quickly turned to include one of Los Angeles' most worshiped commodities- the cell phone. As the spectrum of visual technology continues to expand, interconnect and improve, the realm of Kasho’s expertise is now crossing boundaries from selecting films primarily for large audience theaters to personal viewing devices. This July, Japanese consumers will be introduced to the AU by KDDI, a cell phone that has the capability to receive live streaming films. As the creator of this new business, Kasho will be selecting the three feature films each month from hundreds of Imax movies, in addition to films from both Disney and NASA that will appear on cell phones throughout the country. If the market is lucrative, then each month he will continue to add films to the selection followed by an advertisement with the location that they are playing on a large format screen which will draw viewers to the local museums and theaters as well. Kasho explained that he is especially interested in large format films because the footage is the same shape as the screen on the phone – square, as opposed to regular 35 millimeter. In addition, these movies are more appealing to many people because they are 35-45 minutes long, much shorter in than typical commercial films, and they cover an array of often informative topics with little complex plot or storyline to follow. The emphasis of these videos is on the visual aesthetic, as they are comprised of beautiful, crystal clear photographs. Although there are currently one to two hundred KDDI “AU” cell phone users, the numbers are expected to dramatically increase to 1.5 million as other mobile phone companies such as Docomo and J Phone follow this trend. It is speculated that if the market is successful overseas in Asia, Americans might soon be standing in line watching films from around the world in the palm of their hands as well. June 3, 2003