This series is an independent study project by
the students of Bryn Mawr’s 360° Course Cluster
“Perspectives on Sustainability:
Disasters and Rebuilding in Japan,”
funded by the Japan Foundation, NYC.

The independent study is directed by
Prof. Tienfong Ho (Bryn Mawr College/Temple University),
with support from Profs. Will Gardner (Swarthmore College),
Carola Hein (Bryn Mawr College),
Tomoko Sakomura (Swarthmore College),
and Erin Schoneveld (Haverford College).

a van to BMFI will be departing from Swarthmore College Rose Garden Circle
at 6:15 pm on screenings days
for more information, contact Will Gardner

Twenty Four Eyes
Monday, March 3, 7:00 pm, Bryn Mawr Film Institute
(NR) Japan - 2 hr 36 min
1954 · d. Kinoshita Keisuke
Starring Hideko Takamine, Chishu Ryu, Toshiko Kobayashi, Yumeji Tsukioka

Set in 1928, Twenty-Four Eyes follows Hisako Oshi, a young schoolteacher guiding twelve innocent students from childhood to adulthood as they are forced to face war and society’s problems. Through the eyes of these twelve children and their teacher, the film bears witness to fragility and moral responsibility amidst events and circumstances of World War II.

Akira
Monday, March 17, 7:00 pm, Bryn Mawr Film Institute
(R) Japan – 2 hr 4 min
1988 · d. Ōtomo Katsuhiro
Starring Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Mitsuo Iwata, Tesshô Genda, and Hiroshi Ôtake

In this animated feature set in the dystopian world of Neo-Tokyo, a teenage outcast biker develops supernatural powers and retaliates against corrupt authorities but risks losing a part of himself. Filled with visceral imagery and dark themes full of adolescent angst, the film is a cult classic and widely recognized as a landmark of Japanese anime.

Himizu
Monday, March 24, 7:00 pm, Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Japan – 2 hr 9 min
2012 · d. Sion Sono
Starring Shota Sometani, Fumi Nikaido, Tetsu Watanabe, Mitsuru Fukikoshihi, Megumi Kagurazaka, and DenDen

Based on Minoru Furuya’s manga of the same name Himizu illustrates consequences of  cataclysmic disaster. With filming interrupted by 3.11, Sono’s vision of a post-disaster world became prophetic of actual chaotic circumstances. Told from the perspective of two teenagers the story of parental neglect and unspoken love asks if the corrupt may still be redeemed.

A2-B-C
Monday, March 31, 7:00 pm, Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Japan – 1 hr 11 min
2013 d. Ian Thomas Ash 

Eighteen months after the 3.11 nuclear disaster, children of Fukushima Prefecture have begun developing thyroid abnormalities. Although declared harmless, the ambiguity of official medical test reports and the decrease in children’s overall health have left mothers to take radiation monitoring into their own hands. Please join Professor of Film, Hideaki Fujiki (Nagoya University) and Director Ian Thomas Ash for discussion and conversation after tonight’s screening.

Related event:

"Audience and Action:  Recent Citizen Activism and Cinema" 

a lecture by Hideaki Fujiki,
Professor of Cinema, Nagoya University

Tuesday, April 1, 4:30 pm

Center for Visual Culture
Thomas 154
Bryn Mawr College


Professor Fujiki, the author of Making Personas: Transnational Film Stardom in Modern Japan, will give a talk on recent citizens' use of cinema as a tool for activism against nuclear technologies. In light of continued international impact and developing effects of the Fukushima 3.11 Triple Disaster, Fujiki will present on how screening events by citizens function as a vital point of convergence and divergence in the formation of multilayered networks in the anti-nuclear movement after the nuclear catastrophe.