I am interested in the relationship of the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure.-Shohei ImamuraThe Japanese master Shohei Imamura (b. 1926) is famous for the controversial subject matter and raw energy of his films. Imamura's Japan is a sensuous and often cruel universe untouched by the tea ceremony, Zen, or conventional gentility. Imamura shares with his contemporary Nagisa Oshima a deep social commitment, and a fascination for time-fragmented narration and the ambiguities of illusion and reality. Yet his films look and feel nothing like those of Oshima, or any other director for that matter. At once sensuous and structured, outrageous and analytical, they forage in the primordial Japanese spirit, the ancient drives on which modern life thrives. In the world he observes, women are not the long-suffering madonnas of Naruse or Mizoguchi, the lovely Japanese female on many a screen and fan; rather, they are survivors-self-aware, self-serving, and sexual. Imamura has been called the "anthropologist" among the Japanese New Wave directors but the scientific method is in part a clever stylistic device contrasting with the irrational and instinctual forces his films ultimately celebrate. When he was awarded the Palme d'or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for The Eel (which has been invited to the 1998 San Francisco International Film Festival), Imamura became one of only three directors to receive cinema's most coveted award twice (the first was for Ballad of Narayama).CatalogThe series is accompanied by a book, Shohei Imamura, published by Cinematheque Ontario and edited by James Quandt. It is the first book in English to concentrate on Imamura's work, with major essays, some of which are translated into English for the first time. ($10, sold at the Box Office and the Museum Store.) JAPAN FOUNDATION LOGOShohei Imamura's Japan is presented by the Audio Visual Division of The Japan Foundation, Tokyo, and Cinematheque Ontario. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mr. Tomozo Yano and Ms. Marie Suzuki of The Japan Foundation, Tokyo, and Imamura Productions, Tokyo. We also thank the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, Tokyo, and coordinator Kanako Hayashi; and the cooperating film studios, Nikkatsu, Toei, and Shochiku. We wish to thank James Quandt of the Cinematheque Ontario, who has organized the touring series. All prints are provided by The Japan Foundation. Shohei Imamura's Japan February 25, 1998 New 35mm Prints!Saturday January 3, 1998
