nwFilmCenter

May/June 2007

Thu, May 3, 2007 - Sun, Jul 1, 2007

Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956) is recognized as one of the 20th century's greatest filmmakers. As a child, he witnessed the sale of his older sister into the life of a geisha, an event that was to have a profound influence on his work in film. After studying painting, he took his first film job in 1922 as an assistant to Osamu Wakayama at Nikkatsu Studios, quickly progressing to directing finely crafted period pieces centered on downtrodden and love-bound women—geishas, barmaids and mistreated housewives—compelled to make tragic decisions in the face of wrenching choices between tradition and modern opportunity. Wanting to achieve a cinema that was "so real that the audience could smell the body odor of the people portrayed" he made films that combined exquisite pictorial beauty with keen attention to psychological detail and relied on simplicity rather than technical flash to achieve their perfection. During the 1940s and 50s a string of masterpieces—among them UTAMARO AND HIS FIVE WOMEN. UGETSU, THE LIFE OF OHARU, STREET OF SHAME, and SANSHO THE BALIFF—earned their place among the most beautiful films ever made and his place among cinema's masters.

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Janus Classics

Founded in 1956, Janus Films was one of the first—and happily the longest surviving—distributors to bring what are now revered as the classics of world cinematic masterpieces to American audiences. Through the pioneering and steady efforts of Janus, the great films of Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Roberto Rosselini, Luis Buñuel—the list goes on and on—became the foundations of art house cinema and an influence and inspiration for subsequent generations of filmmakers and audiences. This series salutes Janus' first 50 years—a brief sampling of the treasures in a singular library. Later in the year (send us your requests) we'll mine another selection of classics deservedly appreciated on the big screen with pristine 35mm prints. While Janus is rooted in preserving the theatrical experience, The Criterion Collection, their excellent line of DVDs, offers the seminal works of world cinema to film lovers everywhere. "The Janus Films icon—the black and white image, the lettering, the two faces on the seemingly ancient coin—meant that you were going to see something special, something new, something completely different from anything you'd ever seen before."—Martin Scorsese.

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Special Screenings

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Japanese Currents

Like Japanese fashion and pop culture, Japanese film is in the international vanguard with a new generation of auteurs making their stamp on animation, short films, music videos and features of all persuasions. With their off-kilter takes on period genre films, super-kitsch imagery, digital wizardry and eye-popping animé, Japanese directors lead the charge to the cutting-edge of both commercial and personal cinema. Opening with Satoshi Kon's sci-fi animé PAPRIKA and closing with Takashi Miike's supernatural adventure THE GREAT YOKAI WAR, this eight film sampling offers a wealth of creative invention and a fresh cultural take on Japan today. Presented by the Northwest Film Center, Japan-America Society of Oregon and Portland State University.

Japanese Currents Festival passes are also available on-line. Please click here to purchase.

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Platform Animation Film Festival

The Northwest Film Center is pleased to co-present a rich sampling of vintage and contemporary animation with the Platform International Animation Festival. Platform is a new independent event, conceived for the 21st century, reflecting the rapid rate of development and change in the media and animation worlds. Along with traditional theatrical screenings happening at the Film Center and Performing Arts Center, the Festival will showcase animation on many different platforms, from television installations to mobile devices, to zoetropes and outdoor projections on buildings. With the generous support of Cartoon Network, Platform promises to be an animating force internationally as well as in Portland, a community with a rich animation tradition. We invite you to explore the full range of events unfolding June 25-30 by visiting www.platformfestival.com

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