The distinguished director Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896-1982) stands in a paradoxical relationship to international cinephilia. While Crossroads (1928) and Gate of Hell (1953) were shown in Europe at an early stage, and while Page of Madness (1926) is recognised as an avant-garde classic, Kinugasa’s wider oeuvre is still barely known abroad.
This retrospective will showcase a rich and diverse selection of films, ranging from high-quality literary adaptations, to films about the performing arts, to unusual period dramas, which largely eschew violent action in favour of sophisticated historical analysis and intense personal drama. Drawing on recent restorations as well as vintage prints, the programme will highlight Kinugasa’s considerable abilities as a director of actors and the stylistic variety of his art, which ranges with facility from monochrome expressionism to colour pictorialism. It is time that this significant body of work emerged from the shadows.

Read the selection of films curated by Alexander Jacoby and Johan Nordström, and co-organizer National Film Archive of Japan.