September 12—18, 1975

All films selected from Japanese Film Weeks presented at the National Film Theatre in London and the American Film Institute Theatre in Washington.

This revealing season not only gives local filmgoers a chance to sample a broad spectrum of films from Japan, it also introduces some important directors whose work is only now becoming known outside their own country. The traditions of Japanese cinema are a sense of continuity with the past, a calm and reflective view of the present, and a deep concern with humanity. But these new films are critical of traditional codes of honour, impatient at present injustices, and nostalgic for more settled periods. They represent the achievements of film-makers who grew to maturity after Hiroshima and the American occupation, who have a more detached view of the feudal past than those who were born into it, and who question established values and contemporary assumptions.

The Film Week is open to the public. But Film Society members have priority of booking and reduced admission prices.

Admission Prices: For members (show membership card) and students (show student card)

2 p.m. $1.00.

5.15 and 8.15. $1.20.

For the public:

2 p.m. $1.20.

5.15 and 8.15. $1.50.

Reduced prices for groups of 20 or more.

All inquiries should be made to the Paramount. Tel. 843-553 between 10.30 and 5.30 daily. Monday to Friday. Daily programme information in the Paramount's regular newspaper advertisements.

The Wellington Film Society Inc. Box 1584, Wellington. New Zealand.

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Japanese information and Cultural Centre, the Japan Film Library Council, and the N.Z. Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Friday, September 12 at 2,5.15,8.15

Journey into Soutude

Director: Koichi Saito. 1972. 90 minutes R.18

Chosen as one of the Top Ten films of its year. Its story is universal—a 16-year-old girl runs away from home and sets out on the road to discover the world and herself— but its particularities are very Japanese.

Saturday, September 13 at 2,5.15, 8.15

Parched Love

(Thirst for Love)

Director: Izen Kurahara, 1967. 101 minutes. R16

"A superb screen adaption of one of the finest novels by the late Yukio Mishima. A strange love story about a young woman who begins a bizarre affair with her wealthy father-in-law following the sudden death of her husband. When she becomes disillusioned, she turns her attentions to the gardener with tragic results."—National Film Theatre. London.

Sunday, September 14 at 1.30, 5,8.15

Scuffle Elegy

(Elegy for a Quarrel)

Director: Seijun Suzuki. 1966. 86 minutes. R18

Suzuki is a kind of cult figure with young filmgoers in Japan, similar to American director Roger Corman. This film, set in the 1930s, is concerned with the hopes and frustrations of students. Its central character follows one ideology and has conflicts with another group; both are strongly militaristic. Suzuki's central concern is the frustrated idealism that exploded at the end of the thirties.

The Drunk that Came Back

(3 Resurrected Drunkards)

Directed by Nagisa Oshima. 1968. 80 minutes. 'A'

Oshima, the central figure in the new wave' of Japanese film-makers, was introduced to local filmgoers when the Film Society showed his bold 'Diary of a Shinjuku Thief. This memorable film focusses on three students at the seaside whose clothes are stolen by three mysterious Koreans on the run from the police. When the students get new clothes, the Koreans steal them again. Gradually the students are forced to become outlaws, aliens. Koreans themselves.

Monday, September 15 at 2, 5.15, 8.15

Time Within Memory

Director: Toichiro Narushima. 1973. 117 minutes. 'A' Chosen for the 1973 London Film Festival.

This first film is by one of Japan's great cameramen.

Tuesday, September 16 at 2,5.15,8.15

History of Post-War Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess

Director: Shohei Imamamura 1970. 105 minutes R18.

Chosen for the 1973 Edinburgh Film Festival and the 1974 Sydney Film Festival.

"A remarkable documentary, achieving quite casually what many films have laboured to produce: the Tolstoy-ian sweep of historic events reflected in, or passing remotely by the intimacy of individual lives."—Richard Combs.

Wednesday, September 17 at 2, 5.15, 8.15

Eighteen Roughs

Directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. 1963. 105 minutes. R16

Thursday, September 18 at 2 p.m., 5.15 and 8.15

Kokoro (Love Betrayed)

Director: Kaneto Shindo. 1974. Y

Winner of 1975 Award from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs—one of the top ten films of the year.