Ogawa Shinsuke and Ogawa Pro: Sanrizuka: Heta Village + A Lecture by Markus Nornes

One of the great films of Ogawa Productions, the culmination of a long cycle of films on the conflicts at Sanrizuka, and a meditation on peasant life and the time of the village.

This film was the turning point of independent documentary filmmaking in Japan. After years filming the long-standing struggles at Sanrizuka, the filmmakers became more and more immersed in the life of the people and the village. As the violence escalated, people were killed and thousands were imprisoned. The filmmakers turn their attention to the people of the village of Heta and their customs with deep sensitivity. The politics of the collective are displayed in the empathy they show towards the villagers, who tell us how the protests have affected their lives, their families and farming. The filming adapts to the slow flow of time in village life and a series of very long takes contribute to the meditative tone of the film.

Sanrizuka - Heta Village (Sanrizuka – Heta Buraku), Ogawa Productions, Japan 1973, 16mm, b/w, 146 mins, Japanese with English subtitles.

This screening is preceded by a lecture from Professor Markus Nornes entitled Heta Village: Rending Village Time, discussing the historical arc of Ogawa Productions' filmmaking and how it arrived at this very special place.

Markus Nornes is Professor of Asian Cinema at the University of Michigan. For many years, he was a coordinator at the Yamagata International Film Festival. He is author and editor of many books on Japanese, Chinese and Korean cinema. His Forest of Pressure is a critical biography of Ogawa Shinsuke's collective. Fifteen years in the making, it is an approach to book writing mirroring the long-term filmmaking practices of Ogawa himself.

With thanks to the Athénée Français Cultural Centre (Matsumoto Masamichi, Takasaki Ikuko), Markus Nornes, Hirasawa Go, Jed Rapfogel.

We are offering a special multibuy deal for the Ogawa Season: book tickets for 2-5 screenings and get them for £9 each, or 6-9 screenings and get them for £8 each.