BFI follow their anime season with classic Japanese cinema

Rapidly following on from their currently running anime season, the BFI Southbank are planning to screen 24 live action classic “Japanese gems” through-out July. The following introduction is an excerpt from the BFI’s press release:

“The West’s discovery of Japanese cinema is usually dated from 1951, the year when Kurosawa’s Rashomon won its Golden Lion in Venice. Actually, the story began much earlier: in 1928, a young man named Nagamasa Kawakita brought a fine selection of Japanese movies to Europe. He then went on to concentrate on importing the best of European cinema into Japan, while his remarkable wife, Kashiko, founded a philanthropic organisation to bridge the culture gap between Japan and the West.  Madame Kawakita sadly died in 1993, but the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute lives on as a valuable resource.“
 
“The eight directors represented in this treasure-chest of a programme lived through Japan’s post-war economic and social upheavals and played a big part in transforming its culture. Often they responded directly to what they saw in the streets or read in their newspapers: all eight of them made brilliant social commentaries which we will screen throughout July.”

“Japanese Gems” will present the movies of influential Japanese film directors, like Akira Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima and Seijun Suzuki. Anime UK News will provide you with more information as it becomes available.