SOLD OUT Lecture & Screening – Sisters of Gion (Gion no kyoudai)

1936, 69 min., b&w, 35mm.

Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Written by Yoshikata Yoda. With Isuzu Yamada, Yoko Umemura, Benkei Shiganoya, Fumio Okura and Eitaro Shindo. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation with permission from Cowboy Pictures.

Lecture   6:30 pm
Susan Sontag introduces the film series through a discussion of what is distinctive in Japanese classic films in the context of world cinema history. Ms. Sontag is one of America’s best-known and most admired writers. For nearly four decades her essays on cinema, art, literature, dance and many large cultural questions have exercised an incalculable influence not only in the United States but all over the world.

Film   7:15 pm
Kenji Mizoguchi contrasts two sisters, both second-rated geisha in Kyoto’s Gion district. Conservative and old-fashioned Umekichi faithfully supports a bankrupt client, while young, tough Omocha attempts to take advantage of the men surrounding her. In his dire realism, Mizoguchi depicts how the two women are victimized by vicious capitalism and a male-dominated society.

Tickets: SOLD OUT

See press coverage of this series on the following pages of our press room:
The Village Voice, 1/23/03
The New York Times, 1/24/03