Nagisa Oshima Screening "Kyoto, My Mother's Place"

“幻”の映画、京で初上映　２６日、大島渚さん一周忌イベント

The first anniversary of the passing of great Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima was January 15.

Oshima, who died at 80 last year, was the bete noire of Japanese post-War cinema and had a decidedly mixed relationship with his hometown.

Born and bred in Kyoto, Oshima despised the development of the city that began in the 1950s. Unlike every other major city in Japan, Kyoto was intentionally spared bombing by the US Air Force. Thus, it was intact in August 1945.

However, like all other major cities - which rebuilt from rubble their destroyed cities as fast as they could - Kyoto city leaders decided on a path of modernization that emphasized fire-proof concrete structures that were "western" and "modern."

Thus, in his films, Oshima would often show housing projects or telephone wires as opposed to temples and traditional buildings. He was the anti-Ozu.

To remember its prodigal son, Kyoto will host a screening of "Kyoto, My Mother's Place," a documentary Oshima and Kyoto, at the Museum of Kyoto. It features the areas of Kyoto he lived in, Kyoto University (of which he is an alumnus), and more.

For those going on a bike, there is parking on the side of the Museum near the main entrance.

Bicycle Goods Sale


Information

Location: Museum of Kyoto
Date: January 26
Time: noon, 2 pm, 4 pm
Fee: 1500 yen
Telephone: 075 222 0888

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