ACF 131: Japanese Screen Classics coming to Lincoln Center

Stray Dog / Nora inu

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

1949, b&w, 122 min

Will be shown Sun Aug 3 @ 9;15 pm & Sun Aug 10 @ 9;00 pm

The 2008 New York Asian Film Festival and the JAPAN CUTS film series may be over, but there's only the briefest of respites for Asian Film Fans. The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be presenting an incredible series from July 30th to August 14th, 2008. Entitled Japanese Screen Classics: In Honor of Madame Kawakita, it will consist of 24 masterworks by eight directors: Akira Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima, Kaneto Shindo, Shohei Imamura, Sumiko Haneda, Kon Ichikawa, Yoki Yamada, and Seijun Suzuki.

Rashomon
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
1950 b&w, 88 min
Will be shown Wed Jul 30th @ 5:00 pm & Fri Aug 1st @ 7:15 pm

Kashiko Kawakita was born in 1908 in Osaka, Japan. From the mid-1930s until she died in 1993, she, along with her husband Nagamasa Kawakita, "was the ambassador of Japanese cinema to the world" according to Film Society program director Richard Pena. She both brought films to Japan which otherwise might never have been seen there and made sure that outstanding japanese films were seen abroad.

She also provided financial suppport to some of Japan's emerging filmmakers and was instumental in establishing the Japan Film Library Council, whose mandate included acquiring and preserving prints of Japan's finest cinematic achievements. Madame Kawakita was truly one of the great friends of cinema, and she is well-worthy of being remembered and appreciated.

This collection of films first screened at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. It was subsequently shown at the Cinematheque Francaise and the British Film Institute. After its U.S. premiere at Lincoln Center, it will travel to Totonto, Montreal, Berkeley, Berlin, Rome, and Hong Kong.

As I post this entry, the Film Society of Lincoln Center's homepage only has a notice of this series as a coming attraction, but I'm certain that full program info will available there before long. AsianCineFest will be posting further news and reviews about this major film series over the next four weeks.