ABSTRACT
This contribution contends that the relationship between the various Axis film industries did not merely consist in the exchange and co-production of films; it also involved numerous levels of institutional and personal cooperation. Among other topics, it explores the histories of the Italian cinema Quirinetta in Rome and the German-Japanese cinema “Asia” in Harbin, both founded in late 1935. It also considers two important figures in the German-Japanese relationship, Johannes Barth and Erwin Toku Bälz. The chapter concludes that film was used as a means of strengthening the Axis and creating a transnational public sphere, as evinced, for example, by the use of the term “Film Europe” in the context of the Biennale.
