Japan's art house theaters launch 'Temporary Cinema" streamer amid pandemic

A collection of Japan's art house cinemas have banded together to launch a streaming service, dubbed the "Temporary Cinema," to keep the country's indie film community afloat during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The platform is launching with a lineup of 10 Japanese and international indie movies that previously were scheduled to open theatrically at independent cinemas in the country throughout the spring.

The price charged to stream each film will be roughly the same as what movie theaters would have charged for a single ticket (usually around 1,800 yen, or $17), according to the Hollywood Reporter.

 The organizers of the initiative say that proceeds will be shared equally by two parties: participating cinemas and the films' distributors. That's the same 50-50 split that undergirds Japan's theatrical film business during normal circumstances. 

The project was spearheaded by local independent film distributor Tofoo Films and documentary filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda, whose latest release Zero (Seishin 0) is among the titles that will premiere over the Temporary Cinema service next month. So far, the initiative has attracted the support of more than 40 cinemas and four indie distributors. It follows various other petitions and crowdfunding campaigns launched by Japanese filmmakers in recent weeks to help prevent the permanent closure of art house theaters. 
 
During the early phases of the coronavirus pandemic, Japan appeared to be a mysterious outlier, with relatively few confirmed infections and deaths caused by COVID-19. In recent weeks, however, the country's infection totals have steadily climbed. On Monday, Japan had more than 14,000 cases, overtaking regional neighbors like South Korea (10,700 cases) or Singapore (13,000), which acted much more aggressively to contain the virus.