A Story from Chikamatsu
The Japanese Film Festival is celebrating its 42nd edition in Montreal! Every year, the Consulate General of Japan in Montreal and the Japan Foundation, Toronto, a governmental NPO with the objective of strengthening the ties of friendship and deepening understanding between Japan and Canada through intercultural exchanges, offer free Japanese movie screenings.
In fact, the Japanese Film Festival presented by the Japan Foundation takes place on an international scale with screening locations in dozens of countries around the world, including several in venues across Canada. Of different genres and styles, the films selected each introduce different facets of Japan and present a variety of themes with the goal of appealing to all types of moviegoers.
3:30 p.m. | Free admission
Then at the very pinnacle of his art, master director Kenji Mizoguchi delivers here yet another meticulously constructed classic showcasing some of his signature themes, such as gender inequality, and his critical view of feudal society.

Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese filmmaker who directed roughly one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939), The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953), and Sansho the Bailiff (1954), with the latter three all being awarded at the Venice International Film Festival. A recurring theme of his films was the oppression of women in historical and contemporary Japan. Together with Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu, Mizoguchi is seen as a representative of the "golden age" of Japanese cinema.







