March 31 – April 6

Repertory Series! All New 35mm Prints With Newly Translated
Subtitles!

Man In The Dunes: Discovering Hiroshi Teshigahara

The son of Japan's foremost Ikebana (the art of flower-arranging)
expert, Hiroshi Teshigahara lived a dozen artistic lives: sculptor,
painter, opera director, interior designer, writer, and more. Yet it
was his career as a filmmaker that brought him international
recognition. His diverse artistic background and collaboration with
Japan's brightest artists (writer Kobo Abe and composer Toru
Takemitsu) resulted in thought-provoking films that destroyed the
boundaries of what could be seen on Japanese screens.
- Notes from BAMcinématek

See below for complete line-up, schedule and descriptions for this
series.


Woman In The Dunes (Suna no Onna)
Friday, March 31 at 5:00, 8:00
Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2 at 2:00, 5:00, 8:00
(1964) dir Hiroshi Teshigahara w/Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida [147 min]

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes and nominated for two
Academy Awards, Teshigahara's masterpiece is a disquieting
examination of power and sexuality fueled by stunning visual
imagery. An entomologist stays overnight in a small town, only to
awaken the next morning to find himself trapped by encroaching sand
dunes. Held prisoner, he must shovel the sands back to resist being
buried alive as he simultaneously succumbs to the seduction of his
female captor. Shot in stark black and white giving the rippling
sands an erotic undercurrent, the cinematography juxtaposes the
violence of the dunes with searing close-ups of the lead actors. An
essential big-screen experience, shown here in its original,
extended version! - Notes from the BAMcinématek

"The movie is in black and white, and I have never seen any film use
those two colours in such bold, retina-popping compositions. It's
like a dream - the kind from which you awake bolt upright in a cold
sweat."- The Guardian (UK)

Pitfall (Otoshiana)
Monday, April 3 and Tuesday, April 4 at 8:00, 10:00
(1962) dir Hiroshi Teshigahara w/Kunie Tanaka [97 min]

A mysterious man in a white suit and sunglasses casually commits a
series of murders in a small mining community and in the process
reveals dark secrets about the town. Teshigahara called his first
feature a `documentary-fantasy,' surely referring to the offhand way
it captures the ghostly qualities of the tale (as murdered
characters show up later to comment on the action in the manner of a
Greek chorus). - Notes from the BAMcinématek

The Face Of Another (Tanin no kao)
Wednesday, April 5 at 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Thursday, April 6 at 5:00, 9:30
(1966) dir Hiroshi Teshigahara w/Tatsuya Nakadai [124 min]

Kurosawa regular Nakadai (the reckless gunfighter in Yojimbo and the
lead in Ran) plays a man who becomes horribly disfigured in an
accident, leaving his face covered in bandages. He receives an
artificial face to wear that is different from his own, which
Teshigahara exploits to explore the loss of identity in this
chilling tale. The film works both as a psychological thriller and a
sci-fi Frankenstein story, with some truly unsettling imagery. -
Notes from the BAMcinématek

Antonio Gaudí
Thursday, April 6 at 7:30
(1984) dir Hiroshi Teshigahara [72 min]

One artist's contemplation of another's legacy,
Teshigahara's "architectural symphony"(The New York Times) explores
the work of the legendary Antonio Gaudi, the famed Catalan architect
who sensually combined Gothic, Middle Eastern, and traditional
architecture into his own unique style. It's also one of the most
successful art-house films ever made, breaking box office records
across the country. And it's easy to see why: the beauty of
Teshigahara's camera gliding through the Sagrada Familia, set to
Toru Takemitsu's expressive score, is an unparalleled experience. -
Notes from the BAMcinématek
"The imagery in Antonio Gaudi is nothing less than astounding in its
beauty and boldness."- The New York Times


More details are available from:
Brattle Theatre [publicity@...]