Focus on Japanese Cinema 2013

Give your passport a stamp to Japan in this four-day Focus on Japanese Cinema at the Sie FilmCenter. Journey through the great moments in Japanese cinema, including a special spotlight on filmmaker Shohei Imamura, the only Japanese director to twice win the prestigious Palme d’or at the Cannes Film Festival, a new film by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, two new animes, and the last film by 99-year-old Kaneto Shindo. Additionally, opening night will feature a post-film reception featuring food from one of Denver’s best and newest Asian restaurants.

In Cooperation with Consulate-General of Japan in Denver, the Japan Foundation, Japan American Society of Colorado, Nan Desu Kan and Asian Art Coordinating Council

The Denver Film Society Presents FOCUS ON JAPANESE CINEMA from Denver Film Society on Vimeo.

Films and Events in Program...

• 

  Focus on Japanese Cinema Festival Pass

  Get the Festival Pass and experience the entire Focus on Japanese Cinema from top to bottom at a rate that can't be beat! $40 for DFS Members and $50 for Non-Members The Festival pass gets you in to as many films during our focus as you like and includes receptions. After purchase your pas... more
• 

  Postcard

  Japan , 2010 , 114 min.
  Director: Kaneto Shindo Screens at 7pm Thursday, February 21st at the Sie FilmCenter with Reception to follow Kaneto Shindo has capped his illustrious 60-year career with perhaps his most passionate and personal work. The Japanese master's 49th film begins in 1944 as a young soldier is shipping out for the front. F... more
• 

  Hanezu

  Japan , 2011 , 91 min.
  Director: Naomi Kawase Screens at 7pm Friday, February 22nd at the Sie FilmCenter The Asuka region is the birthplace of Japan. Here, in ancient times, there were those who fulfilled their lives in the midst of waiting. Modern people, apparently having lost this sense of waiting, seem unable to feel grateful for th... more
• 

  Thermae Romae

  Japan , 2012 , 108 min.
  Director: Hideki Takeuchi Screens at 1:00pm Saturday, February 23rd at the Sie FilmCenter Based on the hugely popular comic book, Thermae Romae brings modern Tokyo face to face with ancient Rome in a culture clash that has to be seen to be believed. Few things in life are as comforting as a good bath. No ... more
• 

  Land of Hope

  Japan , 2012 , 133 min.
  Director: Sion Sono DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL this screening has been cancelled but will be rescheduled for another evening this week. In the prefecture of Nagashima, the Ono family is torn apart when an earthquake causes a nuclear meltdown. The government draws danger zones across the prefecture,... more
• 

  A Man Vanishes

  Japan , 1967 , 130 min.
  Director: Shôhei Imamura Screens at 6:30pm Saturday, February 23rd at the Sie FilmCenter One of the most important and complex works by two-time Palme d'Or winning director Shohei Imamura, A Man Vanishes begins as an investigation into one of the thousands of missing persons cases that occur in Japan e... more
• 

  A Letter to Momo

  Japan , 2011 , 90 min.
  Director: Hiroyuki Okiura Screens at 12:30pm Sunday, February 24th at the Sie FilmCenter From anime master Hiroyuki Okiura (director of Jin-Roh, animator for Ghost in the Shell, Akira) comes a touching, fantastical tale of a young girl’s grief and the three mischievous spirits sent to look after her. ... more
• 

  Karayuki-San - The Making of a Prostitute

  Japan , 1975 , 70 min.
  Director: Shôhei Imamura Screens at 3:00pm Sunday, February 24th at the Sie FilmCenter A film about another kind of "unreturned soldier" than Shohei Imamura has profiled elsewhere, Karayuki-San finds the filmmaker traveling to Malaysia to interview Kikuyo Zendo, one of the countless Japanese women who were ki... more
• 

  In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers

  Japan , 1971 , 92 min. Screens at 5:00pm Sunday, February 24th at the Sie FilmCenter Directed by Shohei Imamura IN SEARCH OF THE UNRETURNED SOLDIERS IN MALAYSIA In Malaysia, Imamura follows one false lead after another as he tries to locate unreturned Japanese who had given up the culture of their birth to int... more
• 

  Grave of the Fireflies

  Japan , 1988 , 89 min.
  Director: Isao Takahata Screens at 7:00pm Sunday, February 24th at the Sie FilmCenter On the final days of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his four-year-old sister Setsuko are orphaned after their mother is killed during an air raid by American forces in Kobe, Japan. After having a falling out with their aunt... more
• 

  The Watching Hour: Penance Part I

  Japan , 2012 , 175 min.
  Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Part I Screens at 9:15pm Friday, February 22nd at the Sie FilmCenter Part II Screens at 9:15pm Saturday, February 23rd at the Sie FilmCenter as part of The Watching Hour during our 2013 Focus On Japanese Cinema! Digital presentation - Divided into five chapters, the film tells the st... more
• 

  The Watching Hour: Penance Part II

  Japan , 2012 , 100 min.
  Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Part I Screens at 9:15pm Friday, February 22nd at the Sie FilmCenter Part II Screens at 9:15pm Saturday, February 23rd at the Sie FilmCenter at the Sie FilmCenter as part of The Watching Hour during our 2013 Focus On Japanese Cinema! Digital presentation - Divided into five chapters... more