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| Fire Festival © Kino Lorber |
Himatsuri / Fire Festival
Directed by Mitsuo Yanagimachi
Japan, 1985, 126 minutes
35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles
35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles
When: Friday, January 24, 7:00 PM
Where: Japan Society
333 East 47th Street (between 1st & 2nd Avenues), NYC
Donald Richie on Himatsuri:
"A modern macho lumberjack faces vengeful nature—but such a one-line précis cannot begin to communicate the enormous potency of the film. With luminous photography by Masaki Tamura, a ravishing score by Toru Takemitsu, Kitaoji as the lumberjack, and Nakamoto as his shifty sidekick."
Following Mitsuo Yanagimachi's debut documentary God Speed You! Black Emperor (1976), Richie promoted this independent director by introducing his films and, in 1990, he presented a Yanagimachi retrospective at the Toronto International Film Festival. Himatsuri is set in the Kumano area, the locale of the Japanese myth of creation where the mountains meet the sea, and a lumberjack's love and despair merge with the fierce forces of nature surrounding him.
The film will be introduced by Ian Buruma, Paul W. Williams Professor of Human Rights and Journalism, Bard College
Tickets: $12/$9 Japan Society members, seniors and students
Buy tickets online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.
Friday evening's screening of Himatsuri is part of Richie's Fantastic Five: A Tribute to Donald Richie (1924-2013), Part 1, which is being co-presented with The Japan Foundation.
