Film

A Tribute to Donald Richie (1924–2013)

A Tribute to Donald Richie (1924-2013), Part 1
Richie's Fantastic Five: Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ozu, Yanagimachi, & Kore-eda

SERIES BEGINS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18.

This season, Japan Society honors Donald Richie (April 17, 1924–February 19, 2013), whose work contributed incomparably toward making Japanese art and culture visible throughout the world—especially through film. A Tribute to Donald Richie begins as a monthly series featuring five Japanese directors who became known throughout the world thanks to Richie’s introduction. A second thematic series (Globus Film Series) honoring Richie follows in spring 2014. Both are curated by film scholar and former Japan Society Film Program Director Kyoko Hirano.

Curator's note:
"Donald Richie is one of the most important film and cultural critics who educated and inspired generations of people to become interested in Japan. For decades, Richie was associated with Japan Society through its Film, Lecture and Fellowship programs. Just as he intimately guided foreigners to an appreciation of Japanese culture through his writing, he also enchanted his audiences by his insightful and animated talks, and personally helped many American Japan Society Fellows coming from different fields to get to know and experience Japanese culture and society firsthand.

"Richie tirelessly promoted the cinematic beauty of such giants as Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikio Naruse; championed the iconoclastic energy of Japanese New Wave directors Nagisa Oshima, Masahiro Shinoda, Susumu Hani and Shohei Imamura; and celebrated the vibrant styles of new and upcoming directors such as Yoshimitsu Morita, Kazuo Hara, Mitsuo Yanagimachi and Hirokazu Kore-eda. Thanks to Richie, the world knows the greatness of Japanese cinema.

"Many people in the world beyond North America and Western Europe, beyond the film world, first became acquainted with Japanese culture through Richie's wide range of writings. He made experimental films and wrote both fiction and non-fiction, always looking at Japan affectionately.

"Our first monthly series features directors who have become known abroad thanks to Richie's introduction, such as Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu. The second series includes films portraying a variety of aspects of Japanese society, such as education, family, and the conflicts between tradition and modernity, analyzed by Mr. Richie's keen observations." –Kyoko Hirano


TICKETS
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