Special Screening:ANPO- Art X War followed by a Q&A session with director Linda Hoaglund
Wednesday, September 29, 7 pm 20th floor

USA / Japan, 2010 89 minutes
Produced and directed by Linda Hoaglund
With appearances by: Tadanori Yokoo, Eikoh Hosoe, Hiroshi Nakamura, Makoto Aida, Miyako Ishiuchi, Kikuji Yamashita, Tatsuo Ikeda, Tokiko Kato, Mao Ishikawa, Shomei Tamotsu, Kazuyoshi Kushida

Film courtesy of Uplink

In Japanese and English with English subtitles

The Movie Committee is pleased to host this special screening of Anpo: Art X War, and to welcome filmmaker Linda Hoaglund back to the FCCJ for what is sure to be a spirited post-screening dialogue.

Hoaglund’s debut as director, Anpo depicts resistance to U.S. military bases in Japan through a collage of paintings, photographs and films by Japan’s foremost contemporary artists. The artwork vividly resurrects a forgotten period of Japan’s history, while highlighting the insidious effects of “Anpo,” Japanese shorthand for the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty. The treaty permits the continued presence of 90 U.S. military bases in Japan, and 36,000 soldiers.

“Japan’s relationship with America has always been complicated,” muses contemporary artist Makoto Aida, “always vacillating between love and hate…” The film briefly surveys the contemporary impact of the 30 U.S. military bases in Okinawa, where the Futenma base issue was a recent flashpoint, before traveling back to 1960, when hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens from all walks of life came together in a democratic uprising against the treaty. They were eventually crushed by then Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, backed by the C.I.A. As Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes: A History of the CIA, comments in the film: “During the Cold War, the U.S. would work with any son of a bitch, as long as he was anti-Communist.”

But the movement endured to resurface in protests against the Vietnam War. It also left an indelible mark on the creative output of the artists who participated, many of whom eventually rose to international prominence. Anpo tells these artists' stories through their paintings, photographs and films, most of which have been hidden from public view for over half a century intercut with their creators, as a representation of a still-militarized Japan reeling from the psychic wounds inflicted by American occupiers.

Producer-director Linda Hoaglund was born in Kyoto to American missionary parents and educated in rural Japan before studying at Yale University. She is a noted translator and expert on Japanese cinema, and has subtitled over 200 films, including celebrated works by Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Previously, she produced and wrote the documentary film Wings of Defeat (2007), which received the Erik Barnouw Award for Best Film about American History.

For those who wish to eat right before the film begins, a picnic dinner is available at a cost of 1,365 yen, including: sandwich (shrimp with avocado, tomato, cucumber, cress, mayonnaise, salad and pickles on campagne), beverage choice, popcorn and tax. A vegetarian sandwich is also available for those who notify us in advance. To help us plan food preparation, please reserve by noon on the day of the screening at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161) to allow for seating arrangements. Please pick up your ticket at the front desk from 6:00 pm before collecting your picnic and beverage choice at the lobby bar. Cancellations received after noon on the day of the screening will be charged in full.

You may attend the film without ordering a picnic dinner. Please make your reservations at the FCCJ Reception Desk(3211-3161) to allow for seating arrangements.

All movie screenings are private, noncommercial events restricted to FCCJ members and their guests.

Karen Severns, Edwin Karmiol, Movie Committee

Special Sneak Preview Screening: Kyoto Story (Kyoto Uzumasa Monogatari)
followed by a Q&A session with acclaimed director Yoji Yamada and co-director Tsutomu Abe
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010 3 pm 20th floor
Please note afternoon event time.

Japan, 2010 90 minutes
Co-directed by Yoji Yamada, Tsutomu Abe
Co-written by Yoji Yamada, Tomoaki Sasae
Starring Hana Ebise, USA (Exile), Sotaro Tanaka

Film courtesy of Shochiku

In Japanese with English subtitles

This film is a love story
Between Shochiku Studios and Ritsumeikan University,
And the Kyoto Uzumasa shopping arcade
Where the history of film in the area still lives.
Created with strong hope and passion for the renaissance of film.
- Yoji Yamada

The Movie Committee is honored to have this opportunity to host the screening of this very special film by one of today's most celebrated filmmakers.

Just down the street from the defunct Uzumasa Daiei Studios, where such masterpieces as "Rashomon," "Ugetsu Monogatari" and "Gate of Hell" were created, master director Yoji Yamada collaborated closely with film students from Ritsumeikan University (where he is a visiting professor) on this love letter to Kyoto, to simpler times - and to film itself.

Kyoko (Ebise) is a librarian at Ritsumeikan who is torn between two men, the local tofu-maker’s son, Kota (USA), who lives next door and is trying to become a standup comedian, and a visiting scholar at Ritsumeikan, Daichi (Tanaka), who falls for Kyoko the moment they meet. When Daichi announces that he is leaving, Kyoko must struggle with life decisions that may take her away from the community that has defined and nurtured her.

Yoji Yamada is the director of the world's longest running film series, the "Tora-san" series. He has also created many other indelible works, including "The Yellow Handkerchief," (1977) which won him the Japanese Academy Award for Best Director as well as 5 more awards and was remade into a Hollywood production in 2009. In 2002, Yamada's "The Twilight Samurai" won all the major film awards in Japan including 15 Japanese Academy Awards, and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award®, winning him further international acclaim. The second in the samurai trilogy, "The Hidden Blade" (2004), was presented in competition at the 55th Berlinale, and the third, "Love and Honor" (2006), was the Opening Night Film in the Berlinale Panorama Section, as well as a huge box-office success in Japan. "Kabei - Our Mother" played in competition at the 2009 Berlinale; and Yamada reteamed with Sayuri Yoshinaga earlier this year for the phenomenally popular “About Her Brother – Ototo,” which was the Closing Film at the 60th Berlinale and earned him the Berlinale Camera Award.

Co-director Tsutomu Abe joined Shochiku after graduating from Tohoku University and worked as chief assistant director for Yoji Yamada on a number of films, including the "Tora-san" series and "A Class to Remember." He directed his first feature, "Happy Family Plan," in 1999, which won the Golden Award for Best Family and Children Film at the 33rd Houston International Film Festival. His other films include "Kanon" and "Rakurai."

Please make your reservations at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161) to allow for seating arrangements.

All movie screenings are private, noncommercial events restricted to FCCJ members and their guests.

Karen Severns, Edwin Karmiol, Movie Committee