Celebrating 100 years of Japan-South Africa relations, the Japanese embassy presents a free film festival (among other events such as a lecture on kabuki and other traditional theatrical forms, a symphony concert, a performance by jazz maestro Sadao Watanabe and a martial-arts day).
The film festival runs at Cinema Nouveau from Feburary 26 to 28 in Pretoria; on March 6 and 7 in Durban; on March 13 and 14 at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront; and from March 18 to 21 in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Among the films is Yasijiro Ozu’s 1959 classic Floating Weeds, about a travelling theatre troupe and its internal dynamics. This is a rare opportunity to catch a movie by one of the two or three greatest Japanese filmmakers.
Also showing are Kikujiro, Takeshi Kitano’s offbeat film about the friendship between a grouchy gangster and a young boy; Ping Pong Bath Station, about a neglected housewife who runs away to a hot-spring resort; Life, based on Miri Yu’s bestselling autobiography about adultery, pregnancy and terminal illness; Linda Linda Linda, a comedy about four schoolgirls who form a band and enter a competition; and Turn Over — An Angel Is Coming on a Bicycle, about an elderly couple whose quiet life is disturbed by a young man fond of magic tricks.
Call 021 452 1500 or go to www.sterkinekor.com for more information.