Satoko Nakano

The house where I was born was a movie theater.
As what I heard, it was the first theater in Nara to show a film in Taisho period.

The room of young couple with little kids was on the second floor of the theater and there was a projection room on the other side of the landing of the stairs.
I liked to ride on the back of my father's bike when he went to Nittsu at Nara station to get heavy films in silver cans.
I rode on top of the films on the way back.

I used to play at the entrance of the theater.
A man sticking big posters with a big brush looked cool for me.
I was sitting next to a lady at the ticket booth.
A lady at the shop gave me snacks.
A high school student who used to come to watch films of a bike became a film director.

A big wooden movie theater went out of business, and our family business changed to hotel management when I was in junior high school.
It took many years for me to start watching films by buying the ticket.

It was very rich and comfortable time to watch the images projected on a big screen in the dark, and I could face to my feeling without any worry then.
After I started working at the hotel, I sometimes had chance to welcome guests who came to make films in Nara.
I, who was brought up in a theater, am really moved to help people who transmit my favorite sceneries of Nara through images
The images could be films, programs on TV, commercials, materials for education, etc, but I just feel "great!" always when I see the sceneries of Nara are on screens.
I hope this "great!" become more common in nara.

I appreciate to get the complicatedly tangled chance to join the Nara International Film Festival with surprise.
With my prayers to make a happy circle of people who come to Nara from the world and people go out to the world from Nara.

First, I hope we can take the first step.

Satoko Nakano(Executive director of Hotel Sunroute Nara)