upcoming J-film screenings in Los Angeles

[oyabaka at ucla.edu]

Dear All,

I hope this message finds you all well!

I'm writing with some event information and accompanying invitations  
and request.

1.) Wednesday, January 26, at Royal/t gallery+cafe in Culver City  
(www.royal-t.org)
FILM: OZU Yasujiro's OCHAZUKE NO AJI (The Flavour of Green Tea over  
Rice, 1952)
Intro lecture by Jordan A. Yamaji Smith and screening at 7PM
Ochazuke dinner served from 6PM
Price: film free; dinner is optional, served as a special menu at the  
cafe; probably about $10 for ochazuke set menu

--my accompanying request for this is that if anyone has any little  
gold anecdotes about the film that you don't mind me sharing with the  
audience, I'd be glad to pass them along; I'll be sure to acknowledge  
and thank the sources in the talk/discussion (and I'm aware of the  
film's prehistory in an alternative form

2.) Friday, February 4, at UCLA's Melnitz Hall in the James Bridges Theater
FILM: YAMADA Yôji's BUSHI NO ICHIBUN (Love and Honor, 2006)
Sponsored by Japan Foundation Los Angeles and UCLA Center for Japanese Studies
Screening at 7PM
Following will be a discussion with Yamamoto Ichiro (producer at  
Shochiku), Nick Rucka (KineJapan regular, filmmaker, Midnight Eye  
critic, and much more), and Jordan A. Yamaji Smith (lecturer UCLA  
Asian Studies / CSU Long Beach Comparative Literature; this is me).  
Discussion will be in English, with J-E/E-J translation  available.  
Reception to follow.

Also, I've been organizing a Japanese Film Series at UCLA that began  
in Fall 2010. We have guest curators come in and introduce a film of  
their choice, and screen in (sorry!) on DVD. This is casual and has  
been great fun so far (thanks to Nick Rucka and Bryan Hartzheim for  
coming out in Fall). I'm working on a schedule for the rest of the  
winter/spring quarters, and would be glad to have other guests come in  
for an evening. We do them every other Friday from 5PM, and sometimes  
go out for food/drinks in Westwood afterward. The line-up is eclectic  
(LALA PIPO, PERFECT BLUE, HONTO-NI ATTA KOWAI HANASHI in the fall), so  
choose as erratically and oddly as you please.

Feel free to call me at 310 980 6620 (cell) or email off list to  
oyabaka at ucla.edu if you'd like to share info on the Ozu film, to ask  
questions about these events, or to discuss curating a film at UCLA.

Thanks for joining me in these efforts to keep the J-film world  
connected and active in Southern California.

Cheers,
Jordan Smith