Teasing Out Literary and Folkloric Traditions in The Forbidden Play
Brisbane
Palace Barracks | 21 October, 2023 (Sat)
Screening: 14:30 – 16:20
Talk: 16:20 – 16:50
Dr Lucy Fraser (The University of Queensland) will discuss some of the literary and folkloric sources of the film’s hauntings and supernatural figures, including the long hair so often seen on ghostly women, and explore how the film evokes these traditions through the lens of current social issues in Japan concerning gender, family and religion.
©2023 “The Forbidden Play” Film Partners
Kō Nakahira: Adventures of a Nikkatsu Journeyman
Sydney
The Chauvel | 25 October, 2023 (Wed)
Screening: 18:00 – 19:30
Talk: 19:30 – 20:00
Dr Russell Edwards will discuss how Juvenile Jungle established Nakahira’s technical merit and thematically daring approach, but also eclipsed his other, equally intriguing films, many of which never received global release
©1956 Nikkatsu
Live Sumi-e Performance
Sydney
Palace Norton Street | 28 October, 2023 (Sat)
Screening: 14:30 – 16:20
Performance: 16:30 – 17:00
Artist Tomoko Oka creates sumi-e and Japanese calligraphy, in both traditional forms and in her own unique style, including abstract artworks using Japanese ink. As well as showing in exhibitions, her works have featured in high profile restaurants, branding and marketing campaigns for clients including Opera Australia and Japan Airlines.
The artist will create sumi-e art inspired by traditional Japanese motifs and the live performance will be projected onto the cinema screen.
©Hiromasa Togami / KODANSHA ©2022“The Lines that Define Me” FILM PARTNERS
Kitano Blue
Melbourne
The Kino | 28 October, 2023 (Sat)
Screening: 15:30 – 16:50
Talk Event: 16:50 – 17:20
Professor Sean Redmond (Deakin University) will explore Kitano’s films through the lens of colour and how it has been used to convey emotions and character relationships, while advancing storylines. Professor Redmond will also connect Kitano’s use of colour to painting and art – the way they add fine grain detail to the passing of time and the silence of space.
© BRAINWORKS – ARTE FRANCE – 2020
Takashi Shimizu’s Archaeology of Millennial Japanese Horror: Immersion in J-Horror’s folkloric pasts and techno-futures
Melbourne
The Kino | 29 October, 2023 (Sun)
Screening: 15:30 – 17:20
Talk: 17:20 – 17:50
Takashi Shimizu’s latest film Immersion sees one of the founding fathers of millennial J-Horror riff on the genre in self-aware ways. Dr Jessica Balanzategui (RMIT University) will discuss how the film’s VR-powered spectral curse refracts how J-Horror’s distinctive melange of traditional haunts and techno-horrors has progressed since the launch of Shimizu’s influential Ju-on: The Grudge at the cusp of the 21st century.
© 2023 IMMERSION Production Committee
Crazed Juveniles: 1950s and the Birth of the Japanese Jazz Movie
Melbourne
ACMI | 4 November, 2023 (Sat)
Screening: 15:30 – 17:00
Talk: 17:00 – 17:30
Dr Stephen Gaunson (RMIT University) will discuss Juvenile Jungle and its significant influence as a film of the taiyōzoku (‘Sun Tribe Generation’) genre. The discussion will also cover the contextual importance of music in the film and how it represents international cultural influx.
©1956 Nikkatsu