Past Exhibitions

For more detailed information, please see the following page (in Japanese) .

　Although it seems only yesterday, ten years have passed since Japan lost Nagisa Oshima (1932-2013), a filmmaking giant who constantly pursued freedom in film and renewed his subject matter and style with each work, sometimes as a rebel who plunged into society’s dark side, and sometimes as an adventurer who dared to break away from cinema’s accepted practices.

　The striking Cruel Story of Youth (1960) and Night and Fog in Japan (1960), both produced at Shochiku Studio in his youth. Death by Hanging (1968), Boy (1969), The Ceremony (1971), and other controversial works produced under his own production company Sozosha. And major works such as In the Realm of the Senses (1976) and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) that became international sensations. Throughout Oshima’s career, his works consistently delivered scathing rebukes of Japan’s film industry and society.

　This exhibition, “Film Director Nagisa Oshima,” will explore the many facets of Oshima’s provocative intellect and behavior based on the vast amount of materials—both film-related and personal—that he methodically left behind. It is supervised by Naofumi Higuchi, editor of Treasured Documents Collection from All Nagisa Oshima Films (2021), an important work that brought those materials to light. Following the structure of Higuchi’s book, and with an additional section featuring NFAJ’s own approach, the exhibition will provide a bird’s-eye view of Oshima’s fiery film career.