Yearly Calendar 2019

April 23 - May 26, 2019

Kinji Fukasaku (1930-2003) directed about 60 narrative films from his directorial debut in 1961 till his death in 2003. This program follows the career of this filmmaker, who found seething energy of people in the ruins after the war, and innovated the expression of action and violence.

May 31 - June 27, 2019

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 17th edition (12th 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.

June 29 - September 1, 2019

This program is organized as a memorial to Japanese cineastes such as directors, actors and crew, who passed away in the year 2017 - ­2018.

September 7 - 21, 2019

Co-organizers: PFF General Incorporated Association, Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, and UNIJAPAN

Pia Film Festival, which has been supporting young and upcoming filmmakers and introducing new talent to audiences both in Japan and overseas, now its 41st 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.

October 10 - 20, November 23 - 24, 2019

Co-organizers: Austrian Embassy Tokyo / Austrian Cultural Forum Tokyo and Embassy of Hungary Tokyo

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations of Austria and Hungary with Japan, this program screens selected films of the two countries.

October 31 - November 10, 2019

Co-organizers: Library of Congress, Tokyo International Film Festival, and Motion Picture Association

Following the programs of MoMA’s collection, Orson Welles’ films, UCLA’s collection, and the George Eastman Museum’s collection, this program is co-organized with Tokyo International Film Festival and Motion Picture Association to showcase American movies and introduce activities of film archives in the USA.  This year, films from the collection of the Library of Congress will be screened.

November 12 - 17, 2019

This is an established program that shows silent films with the live music accompaniment or the oral explanation of the benshi film narrator as many silent film festivals in Europe and the USA.  This year’s lineup will consist of foreign films from our collection.

November 26 - December 22, 2019

Co-organizer: Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage

Just before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, documentary films about the Olympics will be screened.  This program will not only give you pleasure of learning the history of each sport and watching famous athletes, but also be significant as a showcase of the works of important filmmakers such as Leni Riefenstahl, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Masahiro Shinoda, and Carlos Saura.

December 24 - 27, 2019, January 4 - 19, 2020

This program is a retrospective of the films of Naomi Kawase (1969- ), who got attention with her self-portrait 8mm documentary films in the beginning of the 1990s, then advanced to making 35mm narrative films and got prizes at many film festivals. Now, she has become one of the leading figures of Japanese cinema, and has also been appointed to direct the official film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. This is our first program that features a Japanese female director of narrative films.

January 21 - March 8, 2020

Shedding light on documentary films, this program presents the legacy of the filmmakers who enriched Japanese cinema with their acute portrayals of the Japanese society from the end of World War II to the 1990s.

As for the educational programs held at Nagase Memorial Theatre OZU, please see the following page.