Starz FilmCenter Celebrates Japanese Cinema and Culture

Contact: Britta Erickson, 303-994-1227 or britta@denverfilm.org

Presented by Denver Film Society & University of Colorado Denver - College of Arts & Media

March 23, 2010, Denver - Give your passport a stamp to Japan in this four-day celebration of Japanese film, art, and culture at the Starz FilmCenter - Thursday, April 8 - Sunday, April 11. Experience a cultural journey through the great moments in Japanese cinema, featuring twelve films from acclaimed Japanese directors with discussions following the screenings.

A special focus on the films of master filmmaker Mikio Naruse (1905-1969), a director whose work has been virtually unscreened in Denver, anchors this event. Four Naruse films will be screened alongside a new 35 mm print of Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, a one-time assistant to Naruse.

Tickets on sale beginning Wednesday, March 24. For more information - www.denverfilm.org.

Festival Highlights

Japanese Cinema 101

Wednesday April 7, 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM - Free to public

An overview of the film series, placing the work in context to historical and contemporary Japanese film makers, narrative styles and themes, by Howie Movshovitz, Director of Film Education at the UC-Denver College of Arts & Media and Colorado Public Radio Film Critic.

Opening Night Film and Reception

When a Women Ascends the Stairs, Mikio Naruse

Thursday April 8, 7 PM

$15 General Admission / $12 DFS members

Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour - a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko (played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine), who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern postwar Ginza district, who entertains businessmen after work. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society.

Japanese film author and historian David Desser and Howie Movshovitz will introduce the film and moderate a discussion following the screening. A Japanese-themed menu and cocktails will be served afterwards.

Visual Artist Kota Ezawa - Public Lecture

Friday, April 9, 5 - 6 PM

Reception immediately following

Free to public

World famous artist Kota Esawa's animations deal with abstraction and mediated perceptions of reality through reconstructions of existing films and videos. In this lecture, Ezawa will present his work in the context of 20th century avant-garde animation.

The Watching Hour presents: Hausu (House), Nobuhiko Obayahshi

Friday, April 9 and Saturday, April 10, 10:00pm

Nobuhiko Obayahshi's 1977 hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt's creaky country home, only to come face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos, and a demonic housecat.

Seven Samurai - New 35mm Presentation, Akira Kurosawa

Sunday April 11, 12 PM - $12 public/ $10 DFS members

One of the great masterpieces of the cinema, villagers in 16th century Japan hire seven unemployed samurai to defend them against bandits. Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) is as riveting today as it was when it was released, an annihilating melodrama that works equally well on the epic and intimate scale.

A complete schedule of events is available at http://bit.ly/focusjapan