Motion Picture Arts Association

...Then came Norimasa Kaeriyaman's (1893-1964) "pure film drama."
[Keiyama Kyosei and the Pure Film Movement]
Kaeriyama Norimasa, a projectionist and member of Tenkatsu's foreign affairs department, advocated a "pure film drama" movement based on the abolition of shadow dialogue and the use of subtitles, the employment of actresses to replace onnagata actors, and a reform of directing techniques. He organized the Film Arts Association with Murata Minoru and Aoyama Sugisaku, who were new theater actors, and persuaded the Tenkatsu leadership, producing The Radiance of Life and The Maiden of the Deep Mountains in 1913. The two films were full of ambition, and produced the first film actress, Hanayagi Harumi, but they were not released until the autumn of the following year due to lack of marketability, and although they were recognized as innovative, they were perceived as nothing more than prototypes that were heavily imitating foreign films, and were commercial failures.

*Some of the terminology used in reference to the Motion Picture Arts Association is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…そこへ出現したのが帰山教正（かえりやまのりまさ）(1893‐1964)の〈純映画劇〉である。
［帰山教正と純映画劇運動］
　天活の映写技師兼外国部員であった帰山教正は，陰ぜりふの廃止と字幕の使用，女形に代わる女優の採用，演出法の改革に基づく〈純映画劇〉運動を提唱，新劇の村田実，青山杉作らと映画芸術協会を組織して，天活首脳部を説得し，18年，《生の輝き》《深山（みやま）の乙女》をつくった。2作品は意欲にあふれたもので，最初の映画女優･花柳はるみを生み出したが，商品性に乏しいという理由から翌年秋になってようやく公開され，革新性は認められつつも，外国映画の模倣の濃い試作にすぎないと受け止められて，興行的にも失敗した。…

※「映画芸術協会」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報