From: Adam Sekuler (email suppressed)
Date: Wed Nov 15 2006 - 11:18:43 PST
Dear programmers,
Last June international cinema lost one it's most cherished
filmmakers, Japan's Shohei Imamura. Imamura, whose credits include
the masterpiece THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA and PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS, was
a true maverick. He's the first major post-humanist to emerge in
Japan, getting his feet wet just before the other great rebel of
Japanese cinema, Nagisa Oshima, went into feature filmmaking. While
his peers busied themselves telling classical humanist tales such as
THE HUMAN CONDITION and THE BURMESE HARP, Imamura picked at our
festering scabs. Much like Nikkatsu mentor Yuzo Kawashima, Imamura
had a preference for contemporary themes, explored with frankness,
humor and a lack of cant. He also had an enduring interest in the
inhabitants of cultural backwaters and the lower depths, particularly
earthy, strong-willed women who disdained bourgeois morality.
Gradually he emerged as one of the leading figures of postwar
Japanese cinema, an insightful, creative artist with a near-
scientific interest in Japanese culture and society, new and old, and
a flair for depicting the human condition audaciously and
entertainingly. Northwest Film Forum and Freer and Sackler Galleries
of the Smithsonian Institution will honor Imamura on what would have
been his eightieth year with a retrospective of his work.
A list of titles in the program follows:
ENDLESS DESIRE (Hateshinaki Yokubou) 1958 16mm & 35mm
STOLEN DESIRE (Nusumareta Yokubo) 1958 35mm
LIGHTS OF NIGHT (Nishi Ginza Ekimae) 1958 35mm
MY SECOND BROTHER (Nian-chan) 1959 35mm
PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS (Buta to Gunkan) 1961 16mm
THE INSECT WOMAN (Nippon Konchu-ki) 1963 16mm & 35mm
MURDEROUS INSTINCTS (Akai Satsui) 1964 16mm
A MAN VANISHES (Ningen Johatsu) 1967 16mm
THE PROFOUND DESIRE OF GODS (Kamigami no fukai Yokubo) 1968 16mm
THE MAKINGG OF A PROSTITUTE (Karayukisan) 1973 16mm
VENGENCE IS MINE (Fukushuwa wareniari) 1979 16mm
WHY NOT (Eejanaika) 1981 16mm & 35mm
THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (Narayamabushiko) 1983 16mm & 35mm
ZEGEN 1987 35mm
BLACK RAIN (Kuroiame) 1989 35mm
The series will open in September 2007. If you are interested in
booking this program please be in touch so we can work out dates and
details.
Best regards,
Adam
-------------------------------------
Adam Sekuler
Program Director
NW FILM FORUM
1515 12th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
206.329.2629 P
206.329.1193 F
nwfilmforum.org
Support independence in cinema by visiting the non-profit Northwest
Film Forum, Seattle’s home for the film arts - located on Capitol
Hill at 1515 12th Ave (between Pike and Pine). Find out more online at
http://www.nwfilmforum.org
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