Events

Time and Location

December 5-11
Film at Lincoln Center (New York, NY)

About

This December, join us for a rare retrospective dedicated to one of Japanese cinema’s most underrated helmers, a director whose work has grown even more beautiful and profound with time.

One of the most accomplished yet underappreciated figures of the golden age of Japanese cinema, Kozaburo Yoshimura began his career with Shochiku in the 1930s, where he formed a pivotal partnership with the screenwriter (and legendary director in his own right) Kaneto Shindo, and would continue working into the 1970s. Along the way, Yoshimura and Shindo would found an influential independent production company, Kindai Eiga Kyokai, while at the same time, Yoshimura directed some of the period’s finest dramas for Daiei.

His wide-ranging work often depicted the plight of women throughout Japanese history, but especially in the postwar era, as tensions between the old and the new rumble beneath the placid, traditional surfaces of Japanese society and the winds of change are always blowing. A formidable director of actresses, Yoshimura consistently anchored his films—particularly those of the 1950s—with indelible female performances from the likes of Machiko Kyō, Mariko Okada, and Fujiko Yamamoto, among others. His proclivity for focusing on the female experience frequently earned him comparisons to his peer, Kenji Mizoguchi.

Presented in partnership with Film at Lincoln Center.

For more information, visit: Kōzaburō Yoshimura