JAPAN CUTS July 10-20, 2025

[Chris Knipp]

FILMLEAF FESTIVAL REVIEW FORUM

Japan Society NYC presents the 18th annual Japan Cuts, the largest festival of Japanese cinema in the US, from July 10-20, 2025

Japan Society site

North America’s Largest Japanese Film Festival Returns With Two Weeks of Contemporary Premieres, Featuring Acclaimed Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Rising Star Yuumi Kawai July 10–20, 2025 · Japan Society · New York, NY © 2024 “CLOUD” FILM PARTNERS
Japan Society, a 118-year-old nonprofit dedicated to fostering closer ties between the U.S. and Japan, announces the full lineup for the 18th edition of its annual contemporary Japanese film festival, JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film. The largest festival of contemporary Japanese cinema in North America, Japan Cuts returns with Japanese fashion brand GU presented for the first time as its title sponsor.

Showcasing 30 films over 11 days, Japan Cuts takes place at Japan Society in New York City, This year’s lineup spans four dynamic sections: Feature Slate, Next Generation, Classics and Short Films. Among the festival’s lineup are 3 World Premieres, 1 International Premiere, 9 North American Premieres, 5 U.S. Premieres, 1 East Coast Premiere and 8 New York Premieres.

The festival also welcomes major actors, directors and special guests and hosts four lively parties throughout its run.

JAPAN CUTS Powered by GU will present legendary director Kiyoshi Kurosawa with the CUT ABOVE Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film, host the premieres of his new film Cloud and recent remake of Serpent’s Path, as well as showcase revivals of License to Live and a new 4K restoration of the original Serpent’s Path.

See The Film Stage for some thumbnail reviews of "10 fllms to see" in Japan Cuts 2025. Some Filmleaf reviews by me will begin shortly in the Festival section HERE.

About Japan Cuts: Described by The New York Times as “meticulously curated” and “an annual highlight of New York’s film calendar,” Japan Cuts delivers the best—and often hardest-to-find—contemporary films from Japan to New York City. Spanning blockbusters, independent features, anime, documentaries, avant-garde experiments and short films, the festival offers a sweeping survey of the past year in Japanese cinema. Presented by Japan Society, a 118-year-old nonprofit dedicated to deepening ties between the U.S. and Japan, JAPAN CUTS stands as one of the organization’s most anticipated and widely attended programs.

[Chris Knipp]

Japan Cuts 2025 Program

Opening, Centerpiece, & Closing Films

Opening Film

ChaO (Special Screening)
『ChaO』(チャオ)
Thursday, July 10 at 6:00 PM
Wednesday, July 16 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Yasuhiro Aoki, 2025, 90 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Ouji Suzuka, Anna Yamada.
Yasuhiro Aoki’s debut feature joins the lineage of Studio 4ºC’s (Mind Game, Tekkonkinkreet) innovative oeuvre, formulating an idiosyncratic Andersen fairy tale set in the cyberpunk melange of near-future Shanghai where humans coexist with mermen.

Ordinary salaryman Stephan is catapulted to instant fame when he is suddenly proposed to by Chao, the mermaid princess. Entrusted with the future of human-mermen relations, Stephan is rushed into the pairing, amid a flurry of politicking and diplomacy, and reluctantly agrees to marry the fish princess, but despite the makings of a political marriage, the effervescent Chao’s ardent affection sparks genuine connection.

With its off-kilter brand of humor, unique kineticism and superb hand-drawn art style— purportedly utilizing over 100,000 hand-drawn frames—Aoki’s Chao is a fantastical spectacle with a deluge of heartfelt passion, produced over the course of seven years. With Opening Night Reception.

Centerpiece Film

Cloud (New York Premiere)
『クラウド』(Kuraudo)
Wednesday, July 16 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2024, 124 min, DCP, Color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Amane Okayama.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s third film in a prolific year, following the creative spurt of Chime and Serpent’s Path, shapes up to be a slow-burn techno-thriller, one which takes its name from today’s ubiquitous virtual cloud.

Moonlighting as a black market internet reseller for fake merchandise and products, factory worker Yoshii’s (Masaki Suda) get-rich-quick schemes and morally dubious actions seem to pay off when afforded the opportunity to move out to a remote, wooded lake house seemingly perfect for his business dealings. Rattled by strange incidents, however, Yoshii finds his errant ways catching up to him when unknown assailants target him. Kurosawa’s suspense-driven exercise in the action genre envisions the amplified ire of internet culture as a radicalized hydra of sprouting heads, amassing an anonymous network to quash its petty grievances.

Kurosawa, as he so often does, masterfully finds terror in the mundane. CUT ABOVE Award Ceremony, Q&A with Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Centerpiece Reception.

Closing Film

The Spirit of Japan (World Premiere)
『The Spirit of Japan』
Sunday, July 20 at 5:00 PM
Dir. Joseph Overbey, 2024, 48 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Tekkan Wakamatsu, Kazunari Wakamatsu, Ranko Wakamatsu.
The Spirit of Japan is the story of the Wakamatsu family, who have been distilling sweet potato shochu by hand at their Yamatozakura Distillery in Kagoshima Prefecture since the 1850s. This documentary follows fifth-generation master brewer Tekkan Wakamatsu as he takes 175-year-old traditions passed down by his father Kazunari Wakamatsu and strives to adapt them to a rapidly changing market driven by commodification and mass consumerism.

Director Joseph Overbey lived with the Wakamatsu family as he shot The Spirit of Japan, offering a rarified look inside the shochu-making production, an intimate portrait of family succession and an unflinching glimpse into the harsh realities of preserving tradition in the modern world. Q&A with Director and Producer, Reception featuring shochu from Yamatozakura Distillery.

Features (with festival blurbs)

SOURCE

Feature Slate – In Alphabetical Order
Visit the JAPAN CUTS website for full descriptions of all films: japansociety.org/japancuts

Blazing Fists (U.S. Premiere)
『BLUE FIGHT 蒼き若者たちのブレイキングダウン』 (BLUE FIGHT Aoki Wakamono-Tachi No Bureikingudaun)
Friday, July 19 at 8:30 PM
Dir. Takashi Miike, 2025, 119 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Danhi Kinoshita, Kaname Yoshizawa, Gackt, Anna Tsuchiya.
From iconoclastic director Takashi Miike and with a cast including pop stars Gackt and Anna Tsuchiya, Blazing Fists is the story of two men in a juvenile reformatory determined to redeem themselves through a fighting tournament, told with exuberant outbursts of Miike’s hallmark action, humor and violence.

ChaO (Special Screening)
『ChaO』(チャオ)
Thursday, July 10 at 6:00 PM
Wednesday, July 16 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Yasuhiro Aoki, 2025, 90 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Ouji Suzuka, Anna Yamada.
An idiosyncratic Andersen fairy tale set in the cyberpunk melange of near-future Shanghai, Yasuhiro Aoki’s animated feature debut ChaO is a fantastical spectacle with a deluge of heartfelt passion, produced over the course of seven years at the imaginative Studio 4ºC. With Opening Night Reception.

Cloud (New York Premiere)
『クラウド』(Kuraudo)
Wednesday, July 16 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2024, 124 min, DCP, Color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Amane Okayama.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s third film in a prolific year, following the creative spurt of Chime and Serpent’s Path, shapes up to be a slow-burn techno-thriller that takes aim at the internet’s amplifying nature to radicalize the pettiest of grievances into real-world danger. CUT ABOVE Award Ceremony, Q&A with Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Reception.

The Gesuidouz (U.S. Premiere)
『ザ ゲスイドウズ』 (Za Gesuidouz)
Friday, July 11 at 9:00 PM
Dir. Kenichi Ugana, 2024, 94 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Natsuko, Leo Imamura, Yutaka Kyan, Rocko Zevenbergen, Yuya Endo.
Musician Hanako believes she has one year left to live and embarks with her horror-themed punk band on a quest to write the world’s best punk song… in a rural farming village. An offbeat, delightful and deadpan musical comedy from cult filmmaker Kenichi Ugana.

A Girl Named Ann (North American Premiere)
『あんのこと』 (An No Koto)
Sunday, July 13 at 5:30 PM
Dir. Yu Irie, 2024, 113 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Yuumi Kawai, Jiro Sato, Goro Inagaki.
Yuumi Kawai won Best Actress at this year’s Japan Academy Film Prize for her stunning performance in A Girl Named Ann, the story of a teenage dropout attempting to rebuild her life amid a world which sees her as only garbage. Written and directed by the lauded Yu Irie and inspired by a painfully true story. Q&A with Yuumi Kawai.

Gridman Universe (North American Theatrical Premiere)
『グリッドマン ユニバース』 (Guriddoman Yunibasu) Sunday, July 20 at 12:30 PM
Dir. Akira Amemiya, 2023, 118 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Hikaru Midorikawa, Yuya Hirose, Yume Miyamoto, Soma Saito, Junya Enoki.
Studio Trigger, one of the most explosive anime studios in Japan, reimagines Tsuburaya Productions’ classic tokusatsu series Gridman: The Hyper Agent in an all-new big screen spectacle celebrating the tokusatsu and kaiju genres and injecting them with their trademark over- the-top, stylish action.

Kaiju Guy! (North American Premiere)
『 怪獣ヤロウ！』 (Kaiju Yaro!) Sunday, July 20 at 3:00 PM
Dir. Junichiro Yagi, 2024, 80 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Gumpy. Ichiro Yamada (Japanese comedian Gumpy) is ordered to produce a “local movie” to increase tourism in his sleepy city. However, Yamada proposes something else—a local kaiju movie. A delightful, heartfelt and rewarding comedy, Kaiju Guy! will make you roar.

Kowloon Generic Romance (World Premiere)
『九龍ジェネリックロマンス』(Kuron Jenerikku Romansu) Sunday, July 13 at 12:30 PM
Dir. Chihiro Ikeda, 2025, 120 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Riho Yoshioka, Koshi Mizukami.
Reiko (Riho Yoshioka) works at a real estate agency in the Kowloon Walled City. As she starts to develop feelings for a coworker, her budding emotions surface long-forgotten memories and soon yesterday and tomorrow swirl in a world of perpetual nostalgia as Jun Mayuzuki’s acclaimed science fiction romance manga comes to life.

My Sunshine (New York Premiere)
『ぼくのお日さま』 ( Boku No Ohisama) Saturday, July 19 at 2:30 PM
Dir. Hiroshi Okuyama, 2024, 90 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Sosuke Ikematsu, Keitatsu Koshiyama, Kiara Nakanishi.
An aching film about an adolescent ice-dancing duo that captivates with a wistfulness for the wonders and pain of young love—and at the same time confronts the deeper subjects of Japan’s attitudes towards masculinity and homosexuality.

The Real You (North American Premiere)
『本心』(Honshin)
Friday, July 11 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Yuya Ishii, 2024, 122 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Sosuke Ikematsu, Ayaka Miyoshi, Koshi Mizukami, Taiga Nakano.
Based on a novel by the Akutagawa-Prize winning Keiichiro Hirano. Following the death of his mother, Sakuya Ishikawa (Sosuke Ikematsu) creates a “Virtual Figure” from her memories in a dark science fiction mystery injected with the same sharp satire as Black Mirror. Featuring an introduction by author Keiichiro Hirano, followed by a book signing.

A Samurai in Time (New York Premiere)
『侍タイムスリッパー』 (Samurai Taimusurippa)
Monday, July 14 at 8:30 PM
Dir. Junichi Yasuda, 2024, 131 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Makiya Yamaguchi, Norimasa Fuke, Yuno Sakura.
At the end of the Edo period, a flash of lightning sends a samurai into the present day. The biggest Japanese indie phenomenon since One Cut of the Dead, this low budget film was initially shown in only one theater, but through word-of-mouth grew into a sensation and ultimately took home Best Film at this year’s Japan Academy Film Prize.

Serpent’s Path (2024) (East Coast Premiere)
『蛇の道』 (Hebi No Michi)
Thursday, July 17 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2024, 113 min, DCP, Color, in French with English subtitles. With Ko Shibasaki, Damien Bonnard, Mathieu Amalric, Hidetoshi Nishijima.
A higher budget remake of Kurosawa’s 1998 straight-to-video effort, Serpent’s Path is a fascinating variation on the original, supplanting Tokyo for the overcast banlieues of Paris. Eerily echoing its predecessor in its snaking narrative, Kurosawa’s psychological experiment explores the haunting obsession of a man subsumed by the desire for retribution after his daughter is killed. Q&A with Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

She Taught Me Serendipity (U.S. Premiere)
『今日の空が一番好き、とまだ言えない僕は』(Kyo No Sora Ga Ichiban Suki, To Mada Ienai Boku Wa)
Saturday, July 12 at 6:30 PM
Dir. Akiko Ohku, 2025, 127 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Riku Hagiwara, Yuumi Kawai, Aoi Ito, Kodai Kurosaki.
JAPAN CUTS’ favorite Akiko Ohku explores the life of college student Konishi who forms a unique bond with classmate Hana (Yuumi Kawai). Sensory and sonically attuned, She Taught Me Serendipity inventively constructs an approximation of Konishi’s psyche, and shines in its open-hearted confessions, soul-baring and poignant in their nature. Q&A with Yuumi Kawai, followed by a Reception.

Teki Cometh (New York Premiere)
『敵』 (Teki)
Monday, July 14 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Daihachi Yoshida, 2024, 108 min., DCP, black and white, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Kyozo Nagatsuka, Kumi Takiuchi, Yuumi Kawai, Asuka Kurosawa.
A retired college professor lives a quiet life alone, until one day he finds a post on the internet about an approaching “enemy” and the world around him begins to melt into paranoia, dream, delusion and fantasy. Widely praised in Japan, Teki Cometh won Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.

Yasuko, Songs of Days Past (North American Premiere)
『ゆきてかへらぬ』 (Yuki Teka Heranu)
Saturday, July 12 at 3:00 PM
Dir. Kichitaro Negishi, 2025, 128 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Suzu Hirose, Taisei Kido, Masaki Okada. Screenplay by Yozo Tanaka.
A resplendent Taisho-set historical drama penned by Seijun Suzuki scribe Yozo Tanaka (Zigeunerweisen) and directed by 80s auteur Kichitaro Negishi, Yasuko fixates on the tumultuous entwinement of modernist poet Chuya Nakahara, aspiring actress Yasuko Hasegawa and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi.

Next Generation – In Alphabetical Order

This sole competitive section of the festival features a hand-picked selection of independently produced narrative feature films by emerging directors who offer a glimpse into the future of Japanese cinema. One film within the section—determined as the most accomplished by a jury of film industry professionals—will receive the “Obayashi Prize” in honor of the late filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi (1938-2020).
Michiyuki – Voices of Time (World Premiere of Final Version)
『道行き』(Michiyuki)
Sunday, July 13 at 3:00 PM
Dir. Hiromichi Nakao, 2024, DCP, b&w, 79 min., in Japanese with English subtitles. With Daichi Watanabe, Kanjuro Kiritake, Hiromichi Hosoba.
Moving into an old house in the rural countryside, videographer Komai converses with its former owner Umemoto, drawing from personal memories to discuss histories, cartographies and the passage of time, reflecting upon the changing tides of tradition and progress within generational spans of the town’s history.

See You Tomorrow (North American Premiere)
『ほなまた明日』(Hona Mata Ashita) Tuesday, July 15 at 8:30 PM
Dir. Saki Michimoto, 2024, 99 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Makoto Tanaka, Ryota Matsuda, Risa Shigematsu.

A gentle coming-of-age drama, Saki Michimoto’s slice-of-life debut involves itself in the life of gifted art school photographer Nao as she decisively steers herself to her dreams, facing the hard choice of leaving behind the familiar.

Promised Land (New York Theatrical Premiere)
『プロミスト・ランド』 (Puromisuto Rando)
Saturday, July 19 at 12:30 PM
Dir. Masashi Iijima, 2023, 89 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Rairu Sugita, Kantaro.
Masashi Iijima’s feature film directorial debut follows two matagi (traditional Japanese hunters) as they embark on a bear hunt in secret, preserving their custom despite a governmental ban. Told through long shots and minimal dialogue, this austere film allows the audience ample time to reflect on the conflict between tradition and progress in its wide stretches of silence amid snowy mountain vistas.
So Beautiful, Wonderful and Lovely (North American Premiere)
『素敵すぎて素敵すぎて素敵すぎる』 (Sutekisugite Sutekisugite Sutekisugiru) Saturday, July 19 at 4:30 PM
Dir. Megumi Okawara, 2025, 67 min, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Megumi Okawara, Shin Namura, Naoko Miya.
Imbued with a sense of real youthful energy, So Beautiful, Wonderful and Lovely is a frenetic display of heartbreak filled with whimsical leanings, overflowing with creative ambition. Q&A with Director Megumi Okawara.

Classics In Alphabetical Order
License to Live
『ニンゲン合格』(Ningen Gokaku)
Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1998, 109 min, Archival 35mm, Color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Hidetoshi Nishijima, Koji Yakusho, Shun Sugata.
Thursday, July 17 at 9:30 PM
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s fascinating 1998 reconstruction of Sam Peckinpah’s The Ballad of Cable Hogue lifts the film’s framework to chronicle a man’s life (Drive My Car’s Hidetoshi Nishijima) after waking up from a 10-year coma. Irreverent, comic and heartfelt, License to Live constitutes an early show of Kurosawa’s remarkable adaptability and versatile range.

Love Letter (International Premiere of 4K Restoration)
『Love Letter』
Saturday, July 19 at 6:30 PM
Dir. Shunji Iwai, 1995, 117 min., DCP, Color. With Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Miki Sakai, Takashi Kashiwabara.
Iwai’s achingly bittersweet epistolary breakthrough evokes an intoxicating romanticism of lost love, recollection and grief—all amid a picturesque setting in the blanche wintertide of Otaru. Beloved throughout Asia, Love Letter would capture the hearts of an entire generation, swept over by its sincerity and the late Miho Nakayama’s eternal mountainside cry “O genki desu ka?”

Serpent’s Path (1998) (North American Premiere of 4K Restoration)
『蛇の道』(Hebi No Michi)
Saturday, July 19 at 9:00 PM
Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1998, 85 min, DCP, Color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Sho Aikawa, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yurei Yanagi.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 1998 V-Cinema production relays the muted horror of obsessive vengeance when a father attempts to avenge his daughter’s brutal murder by kidnapping and torturing a suspected yakuza. A winding descent into a near-fanatical desire to avenge, Serpent’s Path bleakly resigns to a goal which becomes ever more obscure.

[SHORT CUTS list is omitted here]

DOCUMENTARY-In Alphabetical Order
Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers (New York Premiere)
『日本前衛派の開拓者』(Nihon Aen’ei-Ha No Kaitaku-Sha)
Friday, July 18 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Amélie Ravalec, 2024, 100 min., DCP, color, in English and Japanese with English subtitles. With Nobuyoshi Araki, Tadanori Yokoo, Keiichi Tanaami.
Exploring the explosion of postwar radical art in the 1960s and the rise of Japanese avant-garde, Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers is an enthralling glimpse into the outsider art of Japan’s underground movements. Q&A with Director Amélie Ravalec.
The Spirit of Japan (World Premiere)

『The Spirit of Japan』
Sunday, July 20 at 5:00 PM
Dir. Joseph Overbey, 2024, 48 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Tekkan Wakamatsu, Kazunari Wakamatsu, Ranko Wakamatsu.
The story of the Wakamatsu family, who have been distilling sweet potato shochu by hand at their Yamatozakura Distillery in Kagoshima Prefecture since the 1850s. With Director & Producer Q&A. Followed by a Reception.

What Should We Have Done? (New York Premiere)
『どうすればよかったか?』 Dou Sureba Yokattaka?
Tues, July 15 at 6:00 PM
Dir. Tomoaki Fujino, 2024, 101 min., DCP, color, In Japanese with English subtitles.
Tomoaki Fujino’s independent sleeper hit documents 20 years of his sister’s life, who after exhibiting signs of schizophrenia in her early 20s, lived on without being treated due to his parents’ denial of her illness. Heartbreaking, What Should We Have Done? actively explores and confronts the cultural disparities associated with mental illness in Japan.

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
Guest Intro or Q&A * Post-Screening Reception **

THURSDAY, JULY 10
ChaO- 6 PM **
FRIDAY, JULY 11
The Real You – 6 PM * The Gesuidouz – 9 PM

SATURDAY, JULY 12
SHORT CUTS – 12:30 PM *
Yasuko, Songs of Days Past – 3 PM She Taught Me Serendipity – 6:30 PM **

SUNDAY, JULY 13
Kowloon Generic Romance – 12:30 PM Michiyuki – Voices of Time – 3 PM
A Girl Named Ann – 5:30 PM *

MONDAY, JULY 14
Teki Cometh – 6 PM
A Samurai in Time – 8:30 PM
TUESDAY, JULY 15
What Should We Have Done? – 6 PM

See You Tomorrow – 8:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16
Cloud – 6 PM **
THURSDAY, JULY 17
Serpent’s Path (2024) – 6 PM * License to Live – 9:30 PM *

FRIDAY, JULY 18
Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers – 6 PM * Blazing Fists – 8:30 PM
SATURDAY, JULY 19
Promised Land – 12:30 PM My Sunshine – 2:30 PM
So Beautiful, Wonderful and Lovely – 4:30 PM * Love Letter – 6:30 PM
Serpent’s Path (1998) – 9 PM
SUNDAY, JULY 20
Gridman Universe – 12:30 PM Kaiju Guy! – 3 PM
The Spirit of Japan – 5:00 PM **

[Chris Knipp]

LINKS TO FILMLEAF JAPAN CUTS 2025 REVIEWS BEGIN HERE:

TEKI COMETH (Daihachi Yoshida 2024)

An old man living alone in a beautiful traditional Japanese house fades into subtle loss of reality. Literary adaptation won best film, best director, and best actor at Tokyo.

SHOWTIME
MONDAY, JULY 14
Teki Cometh – 6 PM
A Samurai in Time – 8:30 PM

[Chris Knipp]

THE REAL YOU (Youya Ishii 2024)

An adaptation of Keiichiro Hirano's 2021 novel of the same name (本心) it's a sci-fi tale about AI, human connection, and surrogate humans.

Friday, July 11, 2025
6:00 pm
In-Person Event
with author and book signing

[Chris Knipp]

MY SUNSHINE ぼくのお日さま (Hiroshi Okuyama 2024)

A delicately stylish film about young figure skaters, particularly a male one, and homophobia arouind the coach.

Saturday, July 19, 2025
2:30 pm
In-Person Event

[Chris Knipp]

MICHIYUKI - VOICES OF TIME 道行き(Hiromichi Nakao 2024)

A film about buying an old traditional Japanese house in Nara, about time, and about trains, a sui generis effort that reminded me of Jem Cohen and his blend of documentary and fiction in Museum Hours.

Sunday, July 13, 2025
3:00 pm
In-Person Event

[Chris Knipp]

LICENSE TO LIVE ニンゲン合格 (Kiyoshi Kurosawa 1998)

First big role for HIdetoshi Nishijima as a young man awanened from a 10-year coma who looks for a place to call his own and breifly finds it is a wistful, oddball film that's a riff off Sam Peckinpah's cult Western Ballad of Cable Hogue.

Thursday, July 17, 2025
9:30 pm
In-Person Event
Director on hand

[Chris Knipp]

SERPENT'S PATH (Kiyoshi Kurosawa 2024)

Kurosawa's French-set remake of his own grim 1998 film about revenge against child traffickers has Matthieu Amalric and Grégoire Colin getting tortured.

Thursday, July 17, 2025
6:00 pm with director Q&A

[Chris Knipp]

SEE YOU TOMORROW ほなまた明日, (Saki Michimoto, 2024)

Young filmmaker Michimoto dramatizes an art school program in photography showing how one student looms over all the others and may cramp their style.

Showtime:
TUESDAY, JULY 15
6 PM What Should We Have Done?
8:30 PM See You Tomorrow

[Chris Knipp]

PROMISED LAND プロミスト・ランド Masashi Iijima 2924)

Two young men go on a forbidden bear hunt in the mountains to maintain cultural traditions, and are radically changed.

Showtime:
Saturday, July 19, 2025
12:30 pm
In-Person Event