Japanese Screen Classics: In Honor of Madame Kawakita
July 30 – August 14, 2008
From the mid-1930s until her death in 1993, Madame Kashiko Kawakita, along with her husband Nagamasa Kawakita (1903-1981), was the ambassador of Japanese cinema to the world. They were film enthusiasts who channeled their passion into a successful foreign art film distribution company, becoming crucial guides for festival directors, distributors and critics hoping to discover the best in Japanese cinema. Filmmakers from Akira Kurosawa to Nagisa Oshima to Seijun Suzuki publicly acknowledged the importance of the Kawakitas in helping their work be shown abroad, while Madame Kawakita’s efforts in founding the Japan Film Library Council in 1963 ensured the preservation of Japan’s cinematic traditions. The library, renamed the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute in 1982, remains the essential partner for anyone presenting Japanese film anywhere in the world. Its annual award has celebrated a veritable roll call of Japan’s greatest film artists and commentators.
“I had the pleasure of meeting her in the early 1980s, when I first began working as a film programmer, and she was unfailingly warm and friendly. ‘Tea with Madame Kawakita’ at the Cannes Film Festival was an annual ritual to which I always looked forward, knowing that I’d leave with some wonderful recommendations for film programs on Japanese and other international cinemas.” — Richard Peña
We honor the memory of one of the true angels of international cinema, Madame Kashiko Kawakita, with this collection of 24 films by eight remarkable Japanese filmmakers who have received the prestigious Kawakita Award.
AKIRA KUROSAWA
1984 Kawakita Award Recipient
One of the originators of Japan’s Golden Age of cinema. Stray Dog / Nora inu
Rashômon
Ikiru, aka Doomed
NAGISA OSHIMA
1985 Kawakita Award Recipient
A leader of Japan’s Shochiku New Wave of the ’60s and a dynamic political force in Japan for more than 50 years. Violence at Noon / Hakuchu no torima
Boy / Shonen
The Ceremony / Gishiki
KANETO SHINDÔ
1996 Kawakita Award Recipient
Prolific does not begin to describe him: this subtle observer of Japanese life has crafted more than 40 films and 150 screeneplays. The Island, aka Naked Island / Hadaka no shima
Onibaba
A Last Note / Gogo no Yuigon-jo
SHOHEI IMAMURA
1997 Kawakita Award Recipient
A New Wave icon who began as an assistant to Ozu before moving to Nikkatsu studio, where he made a number of legendary films. Intentions of Murder / Akai satsui
Vengeance Is Mine / Fukushû suruwa wareniari
Black Rain / Kuroi ame
SUMIKO HANEDA
1998 Kawakita Award Recipient
One of Japan’s most respected documentary filmmakers, highly regarded for her perceptive observational style. Ode to Mt. Hayachine / Hayachine no fu
Akiko: Portrait of a Dancer / Akiko – aru dansa no shozo
Into the Picture Scroll: The Tale of Yamanaka Tokiwa
KON ICHIKAWA
2001 Kawakita Award Recipient
One of Japan’s finest postwar directors, whose work ranges from massive war films to intimate domestic dramas. A Full-Up Train, aka Crammed Streetcar / Manin densha
Conflagration / Enjo
Her Brother / Ototo
YÔJI YAMADA
2003 Kawakita Award Recipient
One of the most successful directors in Japanese film history, who often alternated between commercial films and personal works. Where Spring Comes Late / Kazoku
Tora-san’s Sunrise and Sunset / Otoko wa tsuraiyo: Torajiro yuuyake koyake
The Yellow Handkerchief / Shiawase no kiiroi hankachi
SEIJUN SUZUKI
2006 Kawakita Award Recipient
A visionary stylist championed by such wide-ranging directors as Jim Jarmusch, Wong Kar Wai, and Quentin Tarantino. Tokyo Drifter / Tôkyô nagaremono
Branded to Kill / Koroshi no rakuin
Zigeunerweisen
Click on Program Overview for a detailed listing of the films in the series.
Click on
Calendar to view the schedule & purchase tickets online ($1.25 service charge per ticket).
Series Pass admits one person to five titles in the series ($40 public/$30 Film Society members) ~ available only at the Walter Reade Theater box office (cash only).
