Cycle
From 20.09. To 28.09.2010.
Program of contemporary Japanese films II
Films in cycle
A Scene at the Sea
(Ano natsu, ichiban shizuka na umi, 1991.)
Directed by: Takeshi Kitano
PHOTOGRAPHY: Katsumi Yanagishima
Synopsis:
Shigeru is a young deaf-mute man working as a garbage man. On his usual route for picking up trash, he finds a surfboard. Intrigued, he fixes it and goes to the beach. His first attempts to catch a wave are unsuccessful but he decides pursue it and practices every day. His girlfriend Takako and skeptical surfers watch him in his futile attempts.
color, 35mm, 101 min
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 21.09.2010 AT 19:00
Monday 20.09.2010 AT 20:00
Scarred Angels
(Kizu darake no tenshi, 1997.)
Directed by: Junji Sakamoto
PHOTOGRAPHY: Norimichi Kasamatsu
Synopsis:
Mitsuru Kida has a small detective agency near Tokyo and his friend Hisashi sometimes helps him. After the two of them get in a fight, Mitsuru decides to leave town. At that moment, he gets an assignment that leads him into an abandoned building where he finds a gangster on his deathbed. Feeling sorry for the dying man, he promises to take the man’s son to his ex-wife.
color, 35mm, 118 min
PROJECTION:
Wednesday 22.09.2010 AT 19:00
Tuesday 21.09.2010 AT 21:00
Dagger of Kamui
(Kamui no ken, 1985.)
Directed by: Rintaro (Shigeyuki Hayashi)
PHOTOGRAPHY: Iwao Yamaki; a: Takuo Noda
Synopsis:
In 19th century Japan, during the shogun era, a young orphan Jiro is left on a boat with a Kamui dagger, which proves that he is a member of the Ainu tribe. At the age of thirteen, Jiro’s foster parent gets murdered and he is accused of the crime. He runs away and meets a priest Tenkai who trains him to be a ninja. But, Tenkai is not what he seems to be…
color, 35mm, 132 min
PROJECTION:
Thursday 23.09.2010 AT 19:00
Wednesday 22.09.2010 AT 21:00
Hotel Hibiscus
(Hoteru haibisukasu, 2002.)
Directed by: Yuji Nakae
PHOTOGRAPHY: Kenji Takama
Synopsis:
Nine-year-old Mieko lives with her father, mother, grandmother, stepsister and stepbrother in the hotel Hibiscus, their house with one guest room. On the way to school, she saves a teenager, Notojima, who has fainted in the street. Her family puts him in the guest room and takes care of him as if he were a member of the family. When her mother and stepsister go to America to meet her sister’s father, Mieko is left with her hands full.
color, 35mm, 92min
PROJECTION:
Friday 24.09.2010 AT 19:00
Thursday 23.09.2010 AT 21:15
The Youth of Kamiya Etsuko
(Kamiya Etsuko no seishun, 2006.)
Directed by: Kazuo Kuroki
PHOTOGRAPHY: Koichi Kawakami
Synopsis:
An old couple sits on the hospital’s roof and reminisces about a cherry tree that grew in front of Etskuo’s home in Komentsu. Slowly, the couple come around to discussing WW II and the circumstances that led to their meeting. Etsuko lived with her brother and his wife after their parents died. She was in love with lieutenant Akashi, her brother’s younger friend. However, one day Akashi proposes that Etsuko should marry his friend Nagayo.
color, 35mm, 111 min
PROJECTION:
Saturday 25.09.2010 AT 19:00
Friday 24.09.2010 AT 21:00
Awaiking
(Tamamoe!, 2006.)
Directed by: Junji Sakamoto
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ryo Otsuka
Synopsis:
Three years after retiring, Toshiko’s husband dies of a heart attack. During preparations for the funeral, the family gathers: daughter Miho and son Akiyuki with his wife whom Toshiko has not yet met as they live in California. By coincidence, Toshiko realizes that her husband had an affair with an older woman who he visited every Thursday when he was supposed to attend a cooking class.
color, 35mm, 125 min
PROJECTION:
Monday 27.09.2010 AT 19:00
Saturday 25.09.2010 AT 21:00
The Climbers High
(Kuraimâzu hai, 2008.)
Directed by: Masato Harada
PHOTOGRAPHY: Gen Kobayashi
Synopsis:
Based on an actual event, the tragic airplane accident of August 12, 1985, the film follows a local journalist who covers the story. After the plane crashed, only 4 people from 524 passengers survived. The journalist worked on the story from the beginning and, faced with many rumors as well as the truth about the event, he tries to solve issues connected to his own career, journalistic ethics and private life.