| 2003-07-23 | | | The YAMAGATA Documentary Film Library Friday Theater (August–September) |
On the second and fourth fridays of each month the YIDFF Organizing Committee holds screenings of films which are not shown at commercial theaters, such as documentary films including the Film Library Collection films, pre-war Japanese films, masterpieces, independent works, experimental films, and animation at the 40-seat theater. Tomonokai (support) members can join the Friday Theater for free (membership fee is 1,000 yen for six months). Anyone is welcome to join the Tomonokai.
The YAMAGATA Documentary Film Library Friday Theater
- Family Portrait: Japan in the 1950s and 60s Part 3
• August 8 (Friday)
14:00, 19:00 (program screens twice) - Japanese Nursery Rhymes (“Nihon no doyo,” English version) Kimura Sotoji, Shimazaki Yoshiki / 1961 / 30 min
Small Children and Accidents (“Chiisai kodomo no jiko”) Maruyama Shoji / 1962 / 21 min
Children of the Sea, Children of the Mountains (“Umikko yamakko”) Kimura Sotoji / 1958 / 70 min
Part Three of this series that looks back at Japan in the 1950s and 1960s through works from the Sakura Motion Picture Co. Featured in this instalment are three works: Japanese Nursery Rhymes looks at the many nursery songs that lived on in the hearts of children in Tokyo; Small Children and Accidents examines the conditions in which accidents involving infants can occur; and a children’s drama masterwork that depicts antipathy between “sea children” and “mountain children,” set in a small village on the Izu peninsula surrounded by sea and mountains.
Forgotten Film History 6—Actor’s Elegy
• August 22 (Friday)
14:00, 18:30 (program screens twice)- A Woman Defied (“Idomareta onna”) Miyaguchi Kei / 1964 / 70 min
Dried Skin (“Kawaita hada”) Wakamatsu Koji / 1964 / 80 min - 16:50 (screened once only)
- Trap of Lust (“Chijo no wana”) Kai Seiji / 1965 / 70 min
The sixth installment in a series looking at the “forgotten film history” of independent adult films (“Pink Films”) in the 1960s. These works were usually centered around female actors, but without the presence of the male actors, they wouldn’t have quite the same luster. The mystery of A Woman Defied, the melodrama of Dried Skin and the yakuza film aesthetic of Trap of Lust. Three works pulsating with the life force of distinctive and charming men who, in the course of rather hackneyed plotlines, fall in love with women are at the mercy of their whims.
Family Portrait: Japan in the 1950s and 60s Part 4
• Sesptember 12 (Friday)
14:00, 19:00 (program screens twice)- Hometown Housewives (“Furusato ni ikiru syufu tachi”) Murata Tatsuji, Takagi Kuniharu / 1958 / 20 min
Granddad is a Hardhead (“Ojiisan ha gankomono”) Horiuchi Masaru / 1958 / 30 min
A Present-day Family (“Gendai kazoku”) Horiuchi Masaru / 1962 / 48 min
The fourth instalment in this series that looks back at Japan in the 1950s and 1960s through the films of the Sakura Motion Picture Co. Hometown Housewives (“Furusato ni ikiru syufu tachi”) is an omnibus work about initiatives to ameliorate the lot of mothers in the countryside; Granddad is a Hardhead (“Ojiisan ha gankomono”) takes a humorous look at moves to improve eating habits in agricultural communities; and A Present-day Family (“Gendai kazoku”) examines the concept of family through the theme of a daughter’s marriage problems.
Special Pre-festival Program: Robert and Frances Flaherty
• Sesptember 26 (Friday)
14:00, 19:00 (program screens twice)- Nanook of the North dir: Robert Flaherty / 1922 / 50 min / sound version
Man of Aran dir. Robert Flaherty / edit. Frances Flaherty et al / 1934 / 70 min
A one-off screening of two famous works by Robert Flaherty, often referred to as the father of documentary film, and his wife Frances who was also his faithful partner in filmmaking. Watching these works, it becomes self-evident as to why the top award of the International Competition bears their names. An ideal opportunity for those of you who have yet to set these great works.
[Venue] The YAMAGATA Documentary Film Library (Yamagata Big Wing 3F)
[Admission] Free for Tomonokai members. (Membership fee: 1,000 yen for six months)
[Contact] phone: 023-666-4480 (Yamagata office)