Posts tagged with ‘kanai katsu’

Sight & Sound article on Japanese underground cinema of the 60s

‘Theatre Scorpio: Japanese Independent and Experimental Cinema of the 1960s’ runs 12–28 July at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club over the next four Tuesdays in July. Related events run at Flat Time House and Birkbeck College.

The Art Theatre Guild’s 50th anniversary is celebrated in a retrospective at the BFI Southbank through July. Alexander Jacoby surveys the legacy of the ATG in the August 2011 issue of Sight & Sound.

July 30-31: Kanai Katsu Introduces The Kingdom in London

Kanai Katsu, director of The Kingdom and other amazing experimental films, emailed me to say that he’ll be attending a symposium in London as guest director. If you’re in the city save the date and be sure to check this out! He’s a legend of Japanese cinema!

The Art Theatre Guild of Japan: Spaces for Intercultural and Intermedial Cinema

A two-day symposium on 30th & 31st July 2011 at the Gordon Square Cinema, Birkbeck College, University of London CFP

Some photos from our Kanai Katsu screening on Oct 1st. It was the first event in our new venue (my warehouse apartment). Thanks to all of those who helped make it a duck-pokingly spectacular night!

Film stills from Kanai Katsu’s The Kingdom (1973)

Film stills from Kanai Katsu’s The Deserted Archipelago (1969)

Kanai Katsu's THE DESERTED ARCHIPELAGO (1969) Review on J-Film Pow-Wow

“The Deserted Archipelago” is a surreal political tale, a film entirely of it’s time. By the late 60’s and early 70’s the leftist student movements who had mobilized against the U.S.-Japan Security treaty, better known as the ANPO Treaty, had splintered and re-splintered into ever smaller and more radical groups. By the time that Katsu was making “The Deserted Archipelago” many university campuses in Japan more closely resembled battlegrounds than they did places of learning. While these groups clashed over the finer points of political actions many shared the common goal of throwing off the yoke of U.S. Imperialism in their home country. It’s this core idealogy that Kanai explores in his film.