Fwd: Zeze Takahisa at Yale

From: Gerow Aaron <[email protected]>

JAPANESE FILM DIRECTOR ZEZE TAKAHISA
At Yale University
November 8-9, 2013

The Japanese film director Zeze Takahisa’s distinguished career has spanned
commercial and independent cinema, fiction and documentary, television and
motion pictures, art film and genre movies, mainstream film and erotic
cinema. Echoing that, his work has also often focused on those in between,
on postmodern nomads who wander between competing identities—national,
ethnic, or sexual—on the margins of society. We are pleased to bring this
important filmmaker to Yale to present two of his films and conduct
workshops with students. Heaven’s Story is his magnum opus, a 4½ hour epic
that won multiple awards at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival and was voted the
best film of 2010 by Japan’s Film Art (Eiga Geijutsu) magazine. This is
only its second screening in North America. No Man’s Land is an example of
his early training years in pink film (soft erotica), combining crime, sex
and fragmented narration amidst the media politics of the first Gulf War.

Zeze will visit Yale to present these two films as well as to conduct
workshops with anyone interested. All events are free and open to the
public, but registration for the workshops is required.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2013       7:00 PM

No Man's Land (1991)
60 minutes
35mm print, Japanese with English Subtitles

Zeze first earned fame as one of the “Four Devils of Pink”, a cohort of
directors using soft erotica to explore sexuality, politics, and cinema.
One of his masterworks in the genre, No Man’s Land joins the wild rides of
two murderous couples against backdrop of the heavily mediated first Gulf
War.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2013       5:00 PM

Heaven’s Story (2010)
278 minutes
35mm, Japanese with English Subtitles
15 minute intermission halfway through film

Winner of multiple awards at home and abroad, Heaven’s Story interweaves
several characters and narratives in an epic tale of murder, revenge, and
forgiveness. Filmed independently over 18 months, the film spans several
seasons and divergent landscapes to create a passionate and philosophical
world that treads between real-life crime and myth.

WORKSHOPS
Zeze Takahisa will hold two workshops where he will discuss his approach to
cinema and field questions about his work and the current state of Japanese
cinema. Registration is required for both. Please email
[email protected] by Tuesday, November 5.

WORKSHOP 1: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2013, 12:00 PM
This workshop is open to the general public and will be conducted in
Japanese with an interpreter.

WORKSHOP 1: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2013, 12:00 PM
This workshop will only be conducted in Japanese to enable freer discussion.


Aaron Gerow
Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Director of Graduate Studies, East Asian Studies
Yale University
320 York Street, Room 311
PO Box 208236
New Haven, CT 06520-8236
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6729
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.aarongerow.com

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