Retrospective and book on Yoshida Kiju

[Dick Stegewerns]

Dear KineJapanners,

This is a rather belated announcement of a retrospective of film 
director Yoshida Kiju which is currently touring the Northern part of 
Europe. The retrospective consists of thirteen films - all of his 
fiction films available with English subtitles - from the various 
periods of his career. The start was at the Rotterdam Film Festival, 
which the director visited together with Okada Mariko. I am afraid 
tonight were the last screenings at the Netherlands Film Museum in 
Amsterdam, but the retrospective will continue in March at the four 
branches of the Norwegian Film Institute in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and 
Tromso. In April part of the retrospective will screen at the Danish 
Film Institute in Copenhagen. For details concerning the screenings in 
Norway and Denmark, please refer to http://www.nfi.no/cinemateket  
(Oslo),  http://www.cinemateket-usf.no (Bergen), http://www.tiff.no  
(Tromso), and  http://www.cinemateket.dk  (Copenhagen).

To coincide with this retrospective the book 'Yoshida Kiju - 50 Years of 
Avant-Garde Filmmaking in Postwar Japan' has been published, which to my 
knowledge is the first book on Yoshida in English (and maybe in all 
other languages apart from Japanese). The book consists of an 
introduction by myself, an interview with Yoshida by Chris Fujiwara, an 
essay by the director himself, four essays - divided by period - by 
Yamamoto Naoki, Saito Ayako, Yomota Inuhiko and Hasumi Shigehiko, 
descriptions of all of his fiction films by Mathieu Capel and me, and a 
biography. The book contains many pictures from Yoshida's films. The 
retrospective received a warm welcome at the Rotterdam Film Festival and 
the book completely sold out. I would not be surprised if the same 
happens at the other venues, so in case some of you are interested in 
obtaining a copy but cannot make it to one of the venues, please contact 
me and I will secure you a copy. The book costs 15 Euro.

By the way, this retrospective was also the first opportunity for 
Yoshida to consider the English titles of some of his fiction films. 
Some of you may be interested in the following titles decided upon by 
the director himself: A Story Written in Water (1965), The Lake of Women 
(1966), Pilgrim in the Snow (1968), Adieu, Summer Light (1968), 
Purgatory Heroica (1970), and Confessions of Actresses (1971).

Regards,

Dick Stegewerns