PRESERVATION OF NARROW GAUGE FILMS IN JAPAN: A CASE STUDY OF 8MM FILMS
By Yoshiyuki Yahiro, Fukuoka　City Public Library Film Archive, Fukuoka, Japan 　　　Page 5 of 6

　
　 8mm and 16mm film did play an important role in Japan as I have described. Yet once into the mid 1980s, both the Image Forum Festival and the Pia Film Festival saw a rapid increase of submitted works in the video format. This was due to the downsizing and down pricing of video cameras making video filmmaking simpler and more affordable than using film. 8 mm and 16mm film would suffer further rapid decline from the mid 1990s with the growth of digital video. To illustrate, 19 submissions to the Image Forum Festival in 2006 from the general public were received in the format of film compared to 455 in video. Nowadays, virtually all submissions come in the form of digital video. Because the acquisition, collection and preservation of video are not the purport of this paper, the subject will be omitted.

　　Due to decline in the demand for film, Fuji Film in April of 2006 decided to discontinue the sale and developing services of its Single 8 film. The sale of 8mm cameras and its projectors had been discontinued in the mid 1980s. Kodak in February 2006 had discontinued its sound film. Concerned about such developments, the “Association for the Continuation of Film Culture” (direct translation of the Japanese) led by film director Nobuhiko Ohbayashi, was established and voiced a protest to Fuji Film’s decision. This led Fuji Film to reconsider its decision and announce the continuation of its sale and development services of its Single 8 film for a period of 3-5 years. However, the future for this Single 8 film is still uncertain.