October/November Films. New from Japan. Friday, October 4, 7:30 p.m.: Owl's Castle.
Carnegie Museum of Art Department of Film and Video
October/November Films
Friday, October 4, 7:30 p.m.
Owl's Castle
Saturday, October 5
Of Mice and Men, 1:30 p.m.
The Stone Flower, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 6, 7:30 p.m.
Owl's Castle
Thursday, October 10, 7:30 p.m.
Sadko
Friday, October 11, 7:30 p.m.
Vengeance for Sale
Saturday, October 12
The Grapes of Wrath, 1:30 p.m.
Sadko, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 13, 7:30 p.m.
Vengeance for Sale
Thursday, October 17, 7:30 p.m.
Viy
Friday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.
Lily Festival
Saturday, October 19
Lifeboat, 1:30 p.m.
Viy, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 20, 7:30 p.m.
Lily Festival
Friday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.
Warm Water under a Red Bridge
Saturday, October 26, 1:30 p.m.
East of Eden
Sunday, October 27, 7:30 p.m.
Warm Water under a Red Bridge
Friday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.
All about Lily Chou Chou
Sunday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.
All about Lily Chou Chou
Friday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.
Cure
Sunday, November 10, 7:30 p.m.
Cure
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Film Series
New from Japan
Through November 10, 2002
These outstanding comedies and dramas from Japan include a United States
premiere, four Pittsburgh premieres, and a personal appearance by woman
director Sachi Hamano. The series, organized with the assistance of
Professor Keiko McDonald, is supported in part by the University of
Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Program, with funding from the U.S. Department of
Education through its National Resource Center Grant, and by the University
of Pittsburgh's Japan Council, with funding from Toshiba International
Foundation and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation Endowment.
University of Pittsburgh students, faculty, and staff with valid ID are
admitted free to this series. All films are in Japanese with English
subtitles.
Owl's Castle (Pittsburgh premiere)
Friday, October 4, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 6, 7:30 p.m.
This swashbuckling historical epic, set in 14th-century Japan, begins with
Nobunaga, a feudal warlord, embarking on a campaign to consolidate his
power. As Nobunaga ruthlessly climbs toward absolute rule, his army
massacres a clan of Ninja warriors and their families. Among the few
surviving witnesses to Nobunaga's carnage is Juzo, a skilled young Ninja.
After 10 years in secluded preparation, Juzo's master sends him on a
passionate revenge mission to infiltrate the most heavily guarded castle in
the land and assassinate Nobunaga's famed successor, Hideyoshi, the first
unifier of Japan.
(Japan, 1999) 138 min.
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda
Vengeance for Sale (Pittsburgh premiere)
Friday, October 11, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 13, 7:30 p.m.
Highly respected action director Okamoto evokes the heyday of 1960s samurai
films with his latest movie, Vengeance for Sale. This wry action-comedy
follows the travels of Sukeroku, a misguided provincial fellow who makes
clumsy attempts to assist people seeking retribution for their grievances.
When Sukeroku returns to his home village, his skills are given the ultimate
test when a coldhearted government official viciously murders his father.
(Japan, 2001) 88 min.
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
Lily Festival (U.S. premiere)
Friday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 20, 7:30 p.m.
Director Hamano, a renowned maker of over 300 "pinku eiga" or soft-core
films, challenges the conventions of this male-dominated genre by openly
celebrating sexuality from a woman's perspective. Lily Festival, her newest
film, is a subversive, erotic fantasy in which a 75-year-old Casanova
transforms an ordinary senior citizen's apartment building into a harem-like
free love commune. Hamano's bawdy, taboo-shattering story combats sexism
and ageism with charm and dignity. Director Sachi Hamano will be present at
the Friday screening.
(Japan, 2001) 100 min.
Directed by Sachi Hamano
Warm Water under a Red Bridge (Pittsburgh premiere)
Friday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 27, 7:30 p.m.
This whimsical adult fable, from veteran director Imamura, explores the
physical essence of life, the human need for sex, and the concept of
destiny. The story follows Yosuke, an unemployed businessman who travels to
a remote seaside village in search of a legendary hidden treasure. Soon
after his arrival, he finds himself magnetically drawn toward Saeko, a
mysterious young woman with astonishing supernatural abilities.
(Japan, 2002) 119 min.
Directed by Shohei Imamura
All about Lily Chou Chou (Pittsburgh premiere)
Friday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.
Iwai's visionary masterpiece digs deeply into the mesmerizing world of
Japanese cyber-pop. The story is about Yuichi, a 14-year-old boy who
anesthetizes himself from the harshness of civilization with the shimmering
music of an ethereal pop-diva named Lily Chou Chou. After creating a
fanatical web site dedicated to worshiping Lily, Yuichi's idolization
disintegrates into an unhealthy obsession, climaxing at a live Lily concert,
where his Internet world collides with brutal reality.
(Japan, 2001) 146 min.
Directed by Shunji Iwai
Cure
Friday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 10, 7:30 p.m.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to Akira) is one of Japan's most electrifying
and original emerging directors. His first masterpiece is Cure, an
atmospheric crime thriller that probes the gruesome psyche of a deranged
killer. The suspenseful, terrifying story follows a desperate police
detective tracking an epidemic of bizarre identical murders marked by a
baffling "X" carved into each victim's body.
(Japan, 1997) 115 min.
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Film Series
Alexander Ptushko: Fantastic Animation
Through October 19, 2002
The brilliant and influential Russian animator Alexander Ptushko was, from
the 1930s to the 1970s, an inventive teller of classic fairy tales, and this
series includes Ptushko's own wonderful version of Sinbad. This rare
opportunity to see glorious, new 35mm Ptushko prints make this series
essential viewing for all generations of lovers of film and Russian culture.
All films are in Russian with English subtitles.
The Stone Flower
Thursday, October 3, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 5, 7:30 p.m.
Set in the Ural Mountains, Ptushko's dreamlike, visually ravishing fable
follows a melancholy young stone carver whose talents attract the attention
of the mystical queen of Copper Hill. She seduces him into visiting her
dazzling underground world, where the carver begins sculpting an enormous
flower out of stone. Ptushko's first great artistic and popular success
combines a hypnotic, almost religious intensity with images of stunning
supernatural splendor.
(USSR, 1946) 83 min.
Directed by Alexander Ptushko
Sadko
Thursday, October 10, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 12, 7:30 p.m.
An oddly Russian Sinbad, Sadko seeks to bring happiness to his people by
seeking out the "Bluebird of Happiness." His voyage takes him to faraway
lands and eventually to India and Egypt. Two set pieces made a mark in film
history: the underwater domain of the tsar of the ocean, and the golden
temple of the Indian maharajah. A fantastical sequence of the Phoenix, a
shimmering half-bird, half-woman, trapped inside the maharajah's gem-like
palace, is one of Ptushko's greatest creations.
(USSR, 1953) 79 min.
Directed by Alexander Ptushko
Viy
Thursday, October 17, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 19, 7:30 p.m.
Based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol, Viy tells the story of a bumbling,
novice priest who angers a demonic old hag. To take her revenge, the witch
disguises herself as the beautiful corpse of a young woman, whose last wish
is to have the priest pray over her for three nights. Once trapped inside
the village church, the priest encounters an astoundingly grotesque parade
of gargoyles and demons, literally erupting from the walls-and the gorgeous
corpse, whirling around the church in a flying coffin!
(USSR, 1967) 78 min.
Directed by Konstantin Yershov & Giorgi Kropachyov, under the supervision of
Alexander Ptushko
Film Series
Steinbeck on Film
October 5-26, 2002
This Saturday afternoon series is presented in conjunction with Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh in celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the
birth of writer John Steinbeck. These four classic films by four
outstanding directors are based on famous Steinbeck texts. There will be an
introduction to each program by Henry Veggian, teaching fellow and doctoral
candidate at the University of Pittsburgh, with a discussion following each
screening.
Filmgoers who present their museum admission receipts will receive a special
$3 ticket price to films in this series.
Of Mice and Men
Saturday, October 5, 1:30 p.m.
Of Mice and Men follows a pair of drifters, George and his mentally
challenged cousin, Lennie, as they endeavor to make an honest wage while
dreaming of a better life, in Depression-era California. Director
Milestone, at one time an itinerant worker himself, conveys a profound sense
of the isolation of the American Western landscape with his moving
adaptation of
Steinbeck's 1937 novella (later made into a play). Of Mice and Men is one
of Milestone's finest films and includes an extraordinary original score by
American composer Aaron Copland.
(USA, 1939) 106 min.
Directed by Lewis Milestone
The Grapes of Wrath
Saturday, October 12, 1:30 p.m.
Director Ford based this landmark film on Steinbeck's 1939 Pulitzer-winning
novel, which reflected America's fury about the Great Depression in poetic,
biblical terms. Henry Fonda stars as Tom Joad, a rebounding ex-convict who
decides to pack his extended family into a ramshackle old truck and leave
their Oklahoma "dust bowl" home for the greener pastures of southern
California. This tragic, stirring film stands as a microcosm of the
Depression experience for millions of impoverished Americans.
(USA, 1940) 128 min.
Directed by John Ford
Lifeboat
Saturday, October 19, 1:30 p.m.
Steinbeck collaborated with director Hitchcock to create this psychological
character study, set during World War II. Several distinctly different
survivors find themselves adrift together in a small lifeboat after a Nazi
U-boat sinks their ship. Another survivor, the German commander of the
U-boat, also sunk in the exchange, is allowed aboard as a gesture of
compassion and for the sake of his nautical skills. This decision proves
fateful as the story develops into an intense, suspenseful thriller.
(USA, 1944) 96 min.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
East of Eden
Saturday, October 26, 1:30 p.m.
James Dean delivers an electrifying performance as Cal Trask, a tortured
young man who longs for the approval of his emotionally distant father,
Adam. Adam favors Cal's twin brother, Aron, who he believes can do no wrong,
and Cal's attempts to win his father's love are met with steady disapproval.
Cal's discovery of a forbidden secret about the fate of their mother
threatens to tear the family apart. Set in the California farming valleys
of 1917, the film, directed by Kazan, was based on Steinbeck's 1952 allegory
about the nature of good and evil.
(USA, 1955) 115 min.
Directed by Elia Kazan
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Admission
Admission to CMA Cinema is $6; $5 for students, senior citizens, and
Carnegie members; and $2 for CinéClub members.
University of Pittsburgh students, faculty, and staff with valid ID are
admitted free to films in the New from Japan series.
Filmgoers who present their museum admission receipts will receive a special
$3 ticket price to films in the Steinbeck on Film series.
Support
General support for the exhibitions and programs at Carnegie Museum of Art
is provided by grants from The Heinz Endowments and the Pennsylvania Council
on the Arts.
Department of Film and Video programs are supported in part by the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation,
and Dr. Lila Penchansky.
Carnegie Museum of Art
Located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh and
founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895,
Carnegie Museum of Art is nationally and internationally recognized for its
distinguished collection of American and European works from the sixteenth
century to the present. The Heinz Architectural Center, part of Carnegie
Museum of Art, is dedicated to the collection, study, and exhibition of
architectural drawings and models. For more information about Carnegie
Museum of Art, call 412.622.3131 or visit our web site.
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Pittsburgh