UW Japan is screening three movies in November featuring Documentary / Drama / Diversity it is a full month. First up on November 7 our documentary Carving the Divine (2019, 99 min.) a film that offers a rare look into a 1400-year-old Buddhist woodcarving tradition and the practitioners struggling to preserve its legacy in a rapidly changing Japan. Master Seki Koun, the former apprentice of renowned Busshi, Saito Kourin, takes us on a trip through a guild culture unlike anything existing today in the West. Filmmaker Seki Yujiro joins us for discussion post-screening. ONLINE ONLY: REGISTER HERE
Then on November 13 author Shibasaki Tomoka’s story takes the screen in Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s 2018 award-winning film Asako I & II the story of love (or?) interrupted (or?), found (or?), and ultimately a look at what it means to be yourself with another person. Film introduced by author Shibasaki Tomoka. Showing in-person only.
On November 18 we look at Nakagawa Shun‘s 2017 short film Karankoe no Hana. On a summer school day the school nurse enters an English class to make a brief remark that LGBT (Q+) persons are real and it is normal. Students begin to wonder why the ‘announcement’ and if it involves a classmate. Reactions, conversations, and accusations spread. Screening followed by discussion with Professor Davinder Bhowmik, University of Washington. Showing in-person only.