Select Japan is an initiative from The Garden Cinema to showcase the best of Japanese cinema, classic and contemporary, with a focus on titles and filmmakers which have been rarely screened in the UK. Our stand-alone events include fresh restorations, Q&As, and films that we believe deserve a platform.
Upcoming events:
On Saturday 18 October, Select Japan ushers in The Garden Cinema’s Halloween season with a double bill of two J-horror classics from the maestro of existential dread and techno-terror, Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Often regarded as Kurosawa’s masterpiece, as well as one of the greatest horror films ever made, Cure (1997) follows a psychologically unspooling detective (Koji Yakusho) investigating a string of inexplicable murders. Our concluding selection is Pulse (2001), a moody and spiritually terrifying film that probes the darkest corners of early internet culture.
Both films will be introduced by film historian Ellisha Izumi, whose research explores denpa film and television – an enigmatic genre of Japanese cinema and anime released from roughly the mid 1990s to mid 2000s. Denpa is a Japanese word that means electromagnetic wave or radio wave. Within the genre, characters tune into these waves and feel their effects: they sense things, hear voices and see spectres.
On Sunday 7 and Saturday 13 December, we’re delighted to bring one of the great modern Japanese films, Shinji Aoyama’s Eureka (2000) back to UK screens for its 25th anniversary, and to premiere the new restoration of the film (onsale 4 November, 18:00).
