National Film Archive of Japan Calendar (April, 2022 – March, 2023)
Please take a look at NFAJ’s visitor guidelines and infection prevention measures before your visit.
*This year, all screenings on and after August 2 will be held at B1 Theatre due to the maintenance of Nagase Memorial Theatre OZU.
*Schedule and titles of the programs may change.
*Further updates on our screening and exhibition events will be announced on this page.
Nagase Memorial Theatre OZU
Flourishing Independent Filmmakers:
Japanese Films in the 1990s
February 1 – March 6, April 5 – May 1, 2022
Facing the popularity of foreign films, the domestic market share of Japanese cinema declined in the 1990s. It was also the decade of social and economic turbulence caused by the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the bubble economy and other incidents. This program will show representative Japanese films in this era, from hit movies against this difficult situation to radical movies directed by newcomers who had drawn attention as independent filmmakers.
Cinema: Lost and Found 2022
May 3 – 22, 2022
This is the 11th installment of “Cinema: Lost and Found,” the series that showcases valuable films newly collected and restored by NFAJ.
EU Film Days 2022
May 28 – June 23, 2022
Co-organizers: The Delegation of the European Union to Japan, and the embassies and the cultural institutes of the EU member states in Japan
EU Film Days is a series showcasing films from the member states of the European Union (EU). Now in its 20th edition (14th to be held at NFAJ), EU Film Days brings together a wide variety of films, introducing the diversity of European society and culture to audiences in Japan.
The 90th Anniversary of Toho:
A Film History of Modernization and Innovation [Part 1]
June 24 – July 31, 2022
* “The 90th Anniversary of Toho: A Film History of Modernization and Innovation [Part 2]” will be held at B1 Theatre on and after October 4.
Toho, which has always been one of the leading studios of Japanese cinema, is marking its 90th anniversary this year. This program traces its glorious history by presenting its eminent works of masters, its beloved movies featuring popular stars, and its representative genres and series.
As for the event “In Celebration of UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage,” please see the following page.
B1 Theatre
Films from the NFAJ Collection: Spring 2022
May 6 – 22, 2022 (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only)
This program will introduce wide variety of NFAJ film collection.
Kajiro Yamamoto Retrospective
in Celebration of the 120th Anniversary of His Birth
August 2 – 28, 2022
* As for this program, there will be no screenings on Mondays, August 5 – 6.
Since his directorial debut in 1924, Kajiro Yamamoto (1902-1974) exercised his abilities in various genres from comedy to melodrama to jidaigeki to musical, as well as showing great facility in social films. Commemorating the 120th anniversary of this prominent director of Toho Studio, this program showcases a selection of his renowned works.
Silent Film Days 2022
August 30 – September 4, 2022
This is an established program that shows silent films mainly from NFAJ collection with the live music accompaniment or the oral explanation of the benshi film narrator as many silent film festivals around the world.
44th Pia Film Festival 2022
September 10 – 25, 2022
Co-organizer: PFF General Incorporated Association
Pia Film Festival, which has been supporting young and upcoming filmmakers and introducing new talent to audiences both in Japan and overseas, now its 44th edition, holds again the “PFF Award Competition,” the biggest competition for “self-produced films (aka Jishu-Eiga)” in the world, special programs and screenings with film personalities as guest lecturers.
The 90th Anniversary of Toho:
A Film History of Modernization and Innovation [Part 2]
October 4 – December 25, 2022
* As for this program, there will be no screenings on Mondays, October 15 – 16, 25 – 30, December 9.
Toho, which has always been one of the leading studios of Japanese cinema, is marking its 90th anniversary this year. This program traces its glorious history by presenting its eminent works of masters, its beloved movies featuring popular stars, and its representative genres and series.
Kazuhiko Hasegawa and Director’s Company
October 25 – 30, 2022
Co-organizer: Tokyo International Film Festival
This is the program co-organized by Tokyo International Film Festival to spotlights not only the works by Kazuhiko Hasegawa but also Director’s Company; the film production company which was established by his idea in 1982 and continued to create unique films for 11 years.
Film Treasures from the Academy Film Archive
January 4 – February 5, 2023
Co-organizer: Academy Film Archive
Since 2014’s program Film Treasures from the Museum of Modern Art, we have introduced the activities of film archives in the USA including UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Library of Congress, showing American movies from their collection. This year, films from the collection of the Academy Film Archive will be screened.
Women Who Made Japanese Cinema [Part 1]:
From the Silent Era to the 1960s
February 7 – March 26, 2023
* As for this program, there will be no screenings on Mondays, March 18.
In this program we focus on the achievements of female directors and female staff such as producers, scriptwriters, art directors, costume designers, editors, and script supervisors to trace the footsteps of female cineastes in Japanese film history.
As for the educational programs held at B1 Theatre, please see the following page.
Educational Programs
Kids’ Cinema: The Summer Vacation of 2022
July 29 – 30, August 5 – 6, 2022 @B1 Theatre
This is the program for children up to junior high school students. It intends to cultivate their aesthetic sensibility and image literacy through the wonder and joy of films on screen.
For more detailed information, please see the following page (in Japanese).
In Celebration of UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
Film Censorship in Pre-war Japan: A Perspective of the Film Scenes “Cut” by the Home Ministry
October 15, 2022 @B1 Theatre
Celebrating UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage(October 27), this special event provides the opportunity to learn the importance of moving image preservation.
V4 Countries Kids Film Festival
December 10, 2022 @B1 Theatre
Co-organizers: The embassies and the cultural institutions of V4 countries
Animation and other films of Visegrad Four (V4: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary), along with their cultures, are showcased for children in this program.
Film Historian Yoshinobu Tsukada: His Collection and Achievement
March 18, 2023 @B1 Theatre
For more detailed information, please see the following page (in Japanese).
Gallery
Temporary Exhibitions
Movie Theatres in Japan
April 12－July 17, 2022
For nearly 120 years since the arrival of the first permanent screening venue in Japan, the experience of seeing movies has been changing according to social circumstances and lifestyles. Through the articles including photos, souvenir movie programs, magazines, books, and items used in theatres, this exhibition traces the history of movie theatres in Japan before the rise of multiplexes, featuring their birth, their golden age after WWII, the “art house” boom and others.
Akira Kurosawa, Screenwriter
August 2－November 27, 2022
While collaborating with eminent scriptwriters to create many masterpieces, director Akira Kurosawa, inspired by world great writers, wrote scripts himself to mature as a screenwriter. This exhibition figures out the mystery of his writing process by analyzing the drafts of his works including Seven Samurai (1954), presenting his scripts offered to other directors, and introducing his newly discovered script which has not yet been made into a film.
Film History in Posters Part 4: Horror Films
December 13, 2022－March 26, 2023
As the fourth installment of the serial exhibition tracing various strands of film history through posters, this exhibition focuses on horror films in Japan and overseas, the venerable genre beginning in the silent era.
Permanent Exhibition
Nihon Eiga: The History of Japanese Film
From the NFAJ Non-film Collection
Japanese cinema has already had a history of over one century with two golden ages. This exhibition surveys the history through posters, still photographs, documents, cameras, the personal items that belonged to noted film personalities and other materials from the NFAJ Collection.
*Captions in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean