MEMBERS ONLY SCREENING Red Persimmons (Manzan Benigaki)

Off-site Event
Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, New York City, box office (212)727-8110, www.filmforum.com.

2001, 90 min. Digibeta (Digital Betacum). In Japanese with English subtitles.

This remarkably beautiful film, ostensibly on the arcane subject of the growing, drying, peeling and packaging of persimmons in a tiny Japanese village was begun by Japanese director Shinsuke Ogawa and completed after his death by his Chinese acolyte, Peng Xiaolian. The larger subject is the disappearance of Japan’s traditional culture, the end of a centuries’ old way of life. The film’s point of view is elegant and often bemused. Several villagers demonstrate how they invented a mechanized persimmon-peeler from bicycle parts! Others boast of the perfect combination of earth, wind and rain that makes their village’s persimmons superior to those grown just a few miles away. And the gorgeous red-orange fruit, whether drying or in full blossom, has an unforgettably radiant beauty that speaks for itself.  

Tickets: Film Forum is offering Japan Society members $5 admission weekdays only, Mon-Fri, March 31 – April 6. Daily showtimes are 1:00, 2:45, 4:30, 6:15, 8:10 & 10:10 pm. Japan Society members receive the FF members price (one ticket only, no guests) at the Film Forum box office only. Tickets cannot be purchased through Japan Society box office.