To Sleep So as to Dream

『夢みるように眠りたい』 
Yume miru yo ni nemuritai

Special Announcement: We regret to inform that Director Kaizo Hayashi is no longer able to attend on October 11 and 12 due to a last-minute conflict. We are excited to present So As to Dream and hope to welcome Hayashi in the future.

Imported 16mm Print; Followed by the Opening Night Reception. Born from the vestiges of some long forgotten dream, Kaizo Hayashi’s debut is a hauntingly beautiful ode to the silent era that yearns for a distant past—back to an illusory world teeming with new excitements, novel invention and cryptic riddles. Under the faint glimmer of an electric lamp, an aging silver-screen starlet seeks the aid of two steadfast detectives when her darling daughter, the ethereal Bellflower, is kidnapped for ransom. The sleuths find themselves caught in a heady game of cat and mouse as they journey deeper into a sleepless realm of benshi performers, archetypal villainy and never-ending serials. Transposing the silent era’s cinematic language into a work that walks the line between antiquity and fantasy, dream and waking state, To Sleep So as to Dream casts a spell over the spectator in dream-like fashion, harking back to the magical, early days of cinema.

Dir. Kaizo Hayashi, 1986, 81 min., 16mm, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Shiro Sano, Moe Kamura, Koji Otake, Yoshio Yoshida, Fujiko Fukamizu.

Part of So as To Dream: The Eternal Mysteries of Kaizo Hayashi
October 11-19, 2024

© Video Detective Agency

Special Thanks to Bret Berg (American Genre Film Archive); Miyuki Takamatsu and Yuko Takagi (Freestone); Kaizo Hayashi; Nicolas Raffin (ICA); Kyoko Omori; and Monika Uchiyama.

Japan Society programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Film programs are generously supported by ORIX Corporation USA, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Anime NYC and Yen Press. Endowment support is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund and The John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by The Globus Family, George P. Hirose, David Toberisky, Joseph Rajaratnam and Dharshini Iolanthe Sivakumarann, and Film Circle members.

Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the official Japanese airline sponsor of Japan Society Film Program. Housing assistance is provided by the Prince Kitano New York, the official hotel sponsor of Japan Society Film Program.