The Japanese New Wave filmmakers responded to their situation as post-war, post-humanist, alienated artists by attempting a thematic and technical assault on previous film practice in an attempt to reveal and overthrow the retrograde tendencies of Japanese culture. They sought themes and techniques which would uncover and condemn the materialistic, anti-individualistic, corrupt, hypocritical values becoming more and more firmly entrenched as the ‘60s wore on....
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June 11, 2012
8th Man - The Battle of the Brothers
8th Man is considered Japan's earliest cyborg superhero and this anime is said to be the inspiration for Robocop
Live Music Show - Classic Japanese Pop & Psych
The swinging pop and psychedelic sounds of 60s Japan!
Dance - Hosotan Butoh (Tatsumi Hijikata, 1972)
Stunning dance piece by the inventor of the dance form known as Butoh
Movie - Black River (Masaki Kobayashi, 1957)
Delicate story about post-war Japan's social evils, and the burdens of war
June 12, 2012
Art - Tokyo 1958 (Hiroshi Teshigahara)
Eight filmmakers collaborate with Teshigahara to bring a newsreel-style snapshot of Tokyo in 1957-58, when it had eight and a half million people and was the largest city in the world.
Doc - Teshigahara and Abe
Explores the relationship between the director and his screenwriter friend
Art - White Morning (Teshigahara, 1965)
A day in the life of Ako, a 16 year old Japanese girl, and her friends and co-workers.
June 13, 2012
Movie - Eros Plus Massacre (エロス＋虐殺, Yoshida, 1969)
Biography of anarchist revolutionary Sakae Osugi, as observed by 2 students in 1969
Neo Tokyo (Anime Anthology, 1987)
It's not just a city... It's a state of mind! Three trippy shorts by Rintaro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri & Katsuhiro Otomo.
Collection - Experimental J-Pop 1980-85
get to know Hikashu, Guernica, The Plastics, P-Model and Jun Togawa
Live Music Show - Nisennenmondai
Experimentalpsychedelic uber-ladies live at Rock'n'Roll, Nagoya, 2009. 50 minutes, 3 songs, 1 camera.
Art - Nam June Paik & Ryuichi Sakamoto - All Star Video (1984)
When too perfect lieber Gott böse. With Allen Ginsberg, Laurie Anderson, Joseph Beuys, John Cage, The Living Theatre and more.
Way of the Warrior - The Samurai Way
doc on one of the oldest samurai-schools in japan ... interviews with the teacher, sword-making, training etc.
June 14, 2012
Collection - Japan Computer Graphics Lab
A collection of promo reels by the pioneering computer animation studio Japan Computer Graphics Lab
June 15, 2012
Movie - Black Lizard (Kinji Fukasaku, 1968)
Japanese sixties comedy featuring a cunning female jewel thief named Black Lizard who tries to kidnap Sanaye, a wealthy jeweler's beautiful daughter.
Trailer Trash - Kinji Fukasaku
From serious business to campy classics, a look at the long-spanning film career of Kinji Fukasaku--in trailer form.
Talk Show - Yayoi Kusama
Extremely talented, extremely likable, and always quotable Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, in (mostly) her own words.
Japanorama - ZokuTribe
Pop culture doc series by Jonathan Ross that offered insight into contemporary Japan. This episode is devoted to zoku (tribes, various different subcultures that are big today).
Movie - Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto, 1969)
Toshio Matsumoto's loose retelling of Oedipus Rex is said to have influenced Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" heavily.
