All programs are free and open to audiences. RSVP is mandatory due to limited seating.
Please select an upcoming program below and click on the RSVP button to view information about the film and reserve your spot. You will receive an automatic email confirmation after registering on the individual film page.
Programs are hosted at the Manarat Al Saadiyat Auditorium.
(Programs dates and times are subject to change.)
Presented in collaboration with Embassy of Japan
In Memory of Actors Kirin Kiki (樹木 希林) and Yoshio Harada (原田 芳雄)
Free Film Screening
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Japan | 2008 | 114 minutes
In Japanese with English Subtitles
RATING: ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: The lyrical, profoundly moving Still Walking (Aruitemo aruitemo) is contemporary Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda’s most personal work to date. Created as a tribute to his late mother, the film depicts one day in the life of the Yokoyamas, gathered together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear. Rather than focus on big dramatic moments, Kore-eda relies on simple gestures and domestic routines (especially cooking) to evoke a family’s entire life, its deep regrets and its daily joys. Featuring vivid, heartrending performances and a gentle naturalism that harks back to the director’s earlier, documentary work, Still Walking is an extraordinary portrayal of the ties that bind us.
Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan
Free Film Screening
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Japan | 1965 | 183 minutes
In Japanese with English Subtitles
RATING: ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: Four Japanese folk tales were adapted for this rapturously stylized anthology from the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi, which received an Academy Award nomination for Foreign Language Film. In the tradition of classic multi-story supernatural films, Kwaidan tells four ghost stories. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup. Kobayashi uses luminous cinematography, colorfully surreal sets and the eerie, electronic-flecked music of Toru Takemitsu to create a visually and aurally imaginative work of fantasy that called upon the director's painterly roots. These haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted. Decades before “J-horror” became an influential movement in international genre cinema, Kwaidan chilled audiences around the world and is presented in the original three-hour cut, never before released.
Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan
Free Film Screening (Family Friendly)
KONO SEKAI NO KATASUMI NI (original title)
Directed by Sunao Katabuchi
Japan | 2016 | 129 minutes
In Japanese with English Subtitles
Rating ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: Based on the award-winning manga by Fumiyo Kouno, In This Corner Of The World tells the emotional story of Suzu, a young girl from Hiroshima, who's just become a bride in the nearby city of Kure during World War II. Living with her husband's family, Suzu has to adjust to her new life, which is made especially difficult by regular air raids. But life must go on, and Suzu — through the help of her new family and neighbors — begins to discover the joys of everyday life in Kure. Much is gained in Kure, but with war, many things cherished are also lost. In This Corner Of The World is brought to life, in stunning animation, by acclaimed filmmaker Sunao Katabuchi (Mai Mai Miracle) and producer Taro Maki.
Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan
Free Film Screening
OKURIBITO (original title)
Directed by Yojiro Takita
Japan | 2008 | 131 minutes
In Japanese with English Subtitles
RATING: ( PG-13 ) - Parental Guidance is advised
Synopsis: Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, DEPARTURES is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan's cultural heritage. Returning to his hometown after his orchestra disbands, cellist Daigo is in search of a new life, a new job and a new direction. To his surprise—and despite the protests of those close to him—he soon finds himself working in a mortuary. Daily, as Daigo prepares the departed for the afterlife with delicate ritualistic care, he begins to find the balance he has been searching for. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.
Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan
Free Film Screening (Family Friendly)
KONO SEKAI NO KATASUMI NI (original title)
Directed by Sunao Katabuchi
Japan | 2016 | 129 minutes | In English
Rating ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: Based on the award-winning manga by Fumiyo Kouno, In This Corner Of The World tells the emotional story of Suzu, a young girl from Hiroshima, who's just become a bride in the nearby city of Kure during World War II. Living with her husband's family, Suzu has to adjust to her new life, which is made especially difficult by regular air raids. But life must go on, and Suzu — through the help of her new family and neighbors — begins to discover the joys of everyday life in Kure. Much is gained in Kure, but with war, many things cherished are also lost. In This Corner Of The World is brought to life, in stunning animation, by acclaimed filmmaker Sunao Katabuchi (Mai Mai Miracle) and producer Taro Maki.
Free Film Screening
Presented by the Embassy of Japan in Abu Dhabi
(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Japan | 1952 | 143 minutes
In Japanese with English Subtitles
RATING: ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)
Synopsis: One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an exploration of death. Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging hidebound minor government official diagnosed with stomach cancer. Discovering that he has but months to live, Watanabe realizes that he has accomplished nothing of significance in his time on earth, and is impelled to do something that will give his life meaning during his final days. Akira Kurosawa’s portrait of this unassuming civil servant, featuring a superb performance by Takashi Shimura, is rightly regarded as one of the great humanist films of the postwar era in Japan. As Watanabe passes through panic, cynicism and despair to – well, something else – Kurosawa steers clear of sentimentality to create a film that is remarkably moving. Presented in a radically conceived two-part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive. Many Akira Kurosawa admirers cite this deeply-affecting piece of Japanese cinema as one of the great director’s pinnacle achievements; it was Kurosawa’s own favourite.
