Sisters of Gion (Gion no shimai) & Woman of Tokyo (Tokyo no Onna)

Sisters of the Gion (Gion no shimai)
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (1936, 35mm, 47 minutes)

Sisters of the Gion recounts the story of two geisha sisters who develop different responses to life in the working class district of Gion.

Woman of Tokyo (Tokyo no Onna)
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu (1933, 35mm, 47 minutes)

One of Ozu’s last silent films, Woman of Tokyo takes place amidst the austerity of depression-era Tokyo and depicts the self-sacrificing love of a woman named Chikako for her younger brother.

Japanese Film Masters: Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Mikio Naruse
This series offers a rare opportunity to explore the work of three of the undisputed masters of Japanese cinema – Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Mikio Naruse. All three directors got their start in the silent-era and worked prolifically throughout Japanese cinema’s two strongest periods: the 1930s and the 1950s. The cornerstone of the series is a program of six films by Kenji Mizoguchi which traces the stylistic, formal, and thematic development of his work from Sisters of the Gion (1936) to such late masterpieces as Sansho the Bailiff (1954). Representative films by Ozu and Naruse, Mizoguchi’s major rivals in the 1930s, will also be included, suggesting the range of aesthetic options available in the period. All screenings have English subtitles.