
12 Aug 2006

Teruo Ishii Fan Club
A documentary on Teruo Ishii, the Japanese "King of Cult".
After the war, many filmmakers were expelled from the Japanese film industry due to the Toho Dispute and the Red Purge. Amid such circumstances, there were people who set up their own independent production companies and embarked on film production without relying on corporations. This documentary film focuses on the passionate "spirit of film" of directors such as Satsuo Yamamoto and Tadashi Imai, who, despite many hardships, produced a succession of masterpieces overflowing with humanism and rebellious spirit.

Narrator (voice)

Narrator (voice)

Narrator (voice)

Narrator (voice)

Self

Self

12 Aug 2006

A documentary on Teruo Ishii, the Japanese "King of Cult".
01 Jan 2002
A short documentary primarily focused on Nikkatsu's Roman Porno series.

01 Jan 2005

Because his style was similar to that of Yasujiro Ozu, who was already active at Shochiku, he moved to PCL (currently Toho) in 1933, where he appeared in the talkie works "My Wife, Like a Rose" and "Tsuruhachi Tsurujiro." It got attention. There were times when he was unable to make as many films as he wanted due to wartime film regulations and post-war Toho disputes, but in 1951 he revived his career with Meshi. Since then, he has released masterpieces one after another, including "Okaasan," "Lightning," "The Couple," "Wife," "Anii Mouto," "Sounds of the Mountain," and "Bangiku." The pinnacle of his work, "Floating Clouds," is Kenji Mizoguchi's "Wife." Even director Ozu was impressed, calling it a masterpiece of Japanese cinema, on par with "The Sisters of Gion." He depicted ordinary people in everyday life with an everyday realism that was not influenced by lyricism, and he consistently sought out women as his subjects.
07 Sep 2004
No overview found

20 Aug 2016

KEN SAN pieces together the puzzle of the life and legacy of Japan's mythical acting icon, Ken Takakura. Collaborators, friends and family tell intimate stories of Ken's journey: how one man of quiet dignity became a cultural barrier-breaking film star.

10 Jan 2002

Film director and screenwriter Seijun Suzuki (1923-2017), who in the sixties was the great innovator of Japanese cinema; and his collaborator, art director and screenwriter Takeo Kimura (1918-2010), recall how they made their great masterpieces about the Yakuza underworld for the Nikkatsu film company.

04 Oct 2019

This documentary follows the last days of actress KIKI Kirin, who passed away on September 15, 2018. The documentary is the first long-term, in-depth coverage of Ki-kin, and is a re-edited version of the NHK documentary of the same title that was broadcast on September 26, 2006, adding previously unseen footage. She was loved all over Japan for her blunt remarks, her attentive concern for those around her, and her overflowing sense of humor. Despite her busy schedule, she valued her daily life and had her own unique style, even though she talked about life as it came. This film captures the last days of her life and gives us hints for living from her "life as it comes" and her many inspiring words.

20 May 1985

An intimate chronicle of the shooting of Ran (1985), a film directed by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.

02 Dec 2000

The film is a series of vignettes from Taiji Tonoyama's life and film clips, interspersed with a dialogue to camera by Nobuko Otowa, addressing the camera as if she is addressing Tonoyama himself, recollecting events in his life. The film focuses on Tonoyama's alcohol dependence and his various sexual relationships, as well as his film work with Shindo.

20 Mar 2023

Legendary anime director Rintaro’s (Metropolis, X/1999, Galaxy Express 999) first new work in over a decade depicts pioneering 1930s director Sadao Yamanaka and the production of his Nezumikozo Jirokichi. Despite dying before the age of 30, Yamanaka was a pivotal influence in Japanese cinema whose work would go on to inspire future generations. While most of his films have been lost to time, his scripts remain, and Nezumikozo Jirokichi recreates one of these lost films—a tale of a famous, virtuous bandit in old Edo—as imagined by Rintaro together with an all-star team including Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Memories), Taro Maki (Pluto, Millennium Actress) and Masao Maruyama (Ninja Scroll, Perfect Blue).
30 Nov 2021
Keichi Tanaamis new animation work Red Shade (2021) is based on paintings that he had produced on the premise that they will be set in motion. Each of the 80 selected scenes was given a distinct movement of its own, and the edited version of the completed work became the first film. The 80 scenes are each independently complete, and can be freely rearranged. For example, you can start from scent 80 and end in scene one, or arrange them irregularly like 1, 4, 8, 7, and so on. In other words, the essence of the work does not change no matter how the scenes are arranged. Even so, it is possible to produce a strong impact by exchanging the images for each frame, and one can also for instance, create an impression of a refreshing breeze sweeping through the green meadows.

01 Jan 2013

The paradox of the successful, worldly conductor, who makes the centuries-old world of classical music accessible, and the intimate composer feels rather like standing on a delicately balanced pile of rocks. And staying there until the rehearsals are concluded and the concert is about to begin. The conductor goes on stage and moves in front of the orchestra. He lifts his hands in the air - ready to embody music. In his documentary 'Brossé', Jacques Servaes gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the day-to-day life of conductor and composer, Dirk Brossé.

05 Oct 2019

A group of Chilean and French researchers, explorers and filmmakers travels to the Patagonian island of Madre de Dios. Here they find another world, one of primeval forests, marble glaciers and an unforgiving climate.

16 Oct 2016

Since his election to the papacy, Pope Francis has inspired millions by urging us to embrace Mercy, ultimately revealed in the face of Christ. Now comes an extraordinary new film on this powerful message that brings hope, healing and forgiveness to a broken world. Narrated by Jim Caviezel, The Face of Mercy explores the history and relevance of Divine Mercy in our turbulent times. (Released 2016)

27 Jan 2020

A harsh and dreamy story of a young girl from the American West and her longing heart. Through Betty we experience a tight family clan of children born by children born by children where love and dependency go hand in hand.

01 Jan 1993

A German documentary on Hong Kong cinema.

21 May 2016

Archeologists discover a pit filled with terracotta warriors buried to protect the grave of the First Emperor of China.

03 Feb 1974

Together with the authors of the film, we will visit the different parts of the RSFSR: Dagestan and Primorye, Kamchatka and Moscow, Leningrad and since. High Ryazan region, Novosibirsk Akademgorodok and the All-Russian Central Committee of the Young Communist League summer camp "Eaglet".

28 Feb 2017

A new piece in which Linklater and actor-cowriters Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke discuss the trilogy, moderated by critic Kent Jones.

11 Sep 2016

When looking at Pedro Almodóvar’s filmography, it becomes evident that women are everywhere; in fact, his work revolves around them. His divas are the best to create a real portrait of Almodóvar and evoke the emotional power of his films. These women are the ideal observers of a cinematic career that, from La Mancha to Hollywood, has changed the image of Spain in the world.