Bentenya x Route 66

Route 66 Centennial - U.S.-Japan Cultural Project

会社案内

U.S. – Japan Cultural Film Project

BENTENYA x Route 66

An adventurous road movie featuring Japanese Chin-don Girls, BENTENYA, from Aichi, Japan, will meet people, introduce Japanese culture, and perform both Japanese and American music as a new way of nurturing 150 years of Chin-don culture while on the historic Route 66 (2,448 miles) in the United States. This is the first project of the Route 66 series towards the centennial in 2026!

Bentenya.usa

Japanese Chindon Girls, BENTENYA, from Aichi, will meet people, introduce Japanese culture, and perform both music while on the Route 66.

CAST・STAFF

Main Cast

Bentenya

Bentenya, the chindon girls, promote your business while entertaining people, playing music, and marching in the street. That’s their profession. Donning glamorous kimonos and colorful wigs, they debuted in 2021 with a captivating chindon sound that blended nostalgia and modernity. Going beyond the traditional chindon style, they have taken on acting and shows at the Gionza and Nagoya Chukyo theaters. They surprised audiences by making an appearance in The Yellow Monkey's dome tour, and have gained attention for their performances in six overseas countries so far. They have been featured on various media outlets including television and newspapers. Their approachable demeanor is nostalgic to the older generation, refreshing to the younger crowd, and beloved by children. Their unique, electricity-free, and sustainable form involves only voices and live instruments. They possess a portable improvisational quality that allows them to perform without a traditional stage even while parading. Bentenya's triumphant journey of spreading smiles and joy to street corners around the world has only just begun. In 2020, they were appointed as Nagoya Tourism Ambassadors.

Director

HORIE Takashi

TAKASHI HORIE is a New York-based independent filmmaker. Born in Sendai, Miyagi. Horie has been working as a director/cinematographer/editor for numerous music videos and promotional videos in the US, and received multiple international video awards. His short film, Ordinary Days was nominated and screened in multiple Film Festivals. His most recent film The Last Passenger was nominated and won awards in US and European film festivals.

Cast

Route 66 Friends

This is a movie that everyone can participate in. Please come and visit us in the cities to where Bentenya goes. You, too, can make your movie debut!

20210630 Hiroshi Kono by Erina Nakazawa.jpg

Producer

KONO Hiroshi

Hiroshi Kono (Producer, Writer), a native of Nagoya, Japan, moved to New York in 1992 and established an entertainment company called Mar Creation, Inc. in 2003. Kono is the co-founder of a film festival, “New York Japan CineFest” (est. 2012), vice president of a 501(c)(3) organization, “Catch Us Performing Arts” (est. 2018), and co-founder of “Chicago Japan Film Collective” (est. 2020). He is currently working on a short documentary film which will premiere this year. He is an advisor for the Kadoma International Film Festival, Outreach Director for the Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival, and Creative Director for the Boston Japan Film Festival since 2021. He also has worked for film screenings with Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Japan Program), Akita International University in Japan, Asia Society Texas Center, San Francisco Public Library, Indie Memphis, Baltimore Japan Art Festival, and so on.

Associate Producer

GOTO Toshiyuki

Born in 1966 in Zushi, Kanagawa and raised in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. Toshi has been in the U.S. about 30 years, and now residing in Orange County, California. Inspired by the book, "Route 66 - Mother Road" written by Mr. Michael Wallis, a great historian and advocate of Route 66, Toshi’s first ever trip on Route 66 was a reverse route in 1996, starting at the "terminus" in Santa Monica, California. Since then, Toshi has explored Route 66 every chance he gets, exploring each city, each region, each state, and has completed the entire route three times.

In 2015, Toshi founded the Route 66 Association Japan, and at the same time, he writes a monthly travel article about Route 66 for the Japanese local newspaper "Weekly NY Seikatsu" in New York City. Toshi has been in charge of Route 66 online seminars for two years hosted by a Japanese-affiliated travel agency, and he has also been a speaker at webinars hosted by various Route 66-related organizations in the U.S.

Founder and President, Route 66 Japan Association

Member of the Route 66 Chamber of Commerce (USA), Route 66 Association of Missouri, Route 66 Association in Kingman, Arizona, California Route 66 Association, Oklahoma Route 66 Association, Texas Route 66 Association, and Route 66 International Advisory Group.

Introduction

"Bentenya x Route 66" is a Japan-U.S. cultural exchange project for Route 66 which will celebrate its centennial in 2026. We are embarking on a film production as the first step to sow the seeds of Japanese culture and lay the foundation for a Japan-U.S. exchange. This is meant to be a road movie that tells the story of our interactions with people, as well as a documentary that captures the history of Route 66 on film. Once completed, the film will become available for viewing at film festivals, screenings, theatrical screenings, and online.

Bentenya is chindonya, a unique Japanese street performance with 150 years of history. They are professional agents who play music in gorgeous costumes and promote various businesses, events, and cultures while entertaining people on the streets. The purpose of the project is to create a new era and sustainable activity with locals for the Centennial—a huge milestone—by following the same great path established by our predecessors under the pioneering spirit in the U.S.

Interactions are born wherever Bentenya visits, and people who visit Route 66 from all over the world will bring those connections to the next city and/or back to their home country, making them blossom even more. Bentenya will also carry the legacy of Route 66 to Japan and create a new road. Route 66 will never end, and each and every one of us will find a new goal and create a path to the future that stretches forever.

We hope to meet and work with any of you who can support this project. Together, we will create a new era. We sincerely appreciate your cooperation.

Hiroshi Kono
Producer
Bentenya x Route 66 Film Production Committee

Please support us for production!

The funds will be used for film production and promotions after completion.

PayPal

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Donation by check

If you would like to send a check, please fill out the email form and we will contact you with the bank account information. We will issue a tax-deductible receipt upon request.

We will launch a crowdfunding campaign soon. Please stay tuned!