Program

A selection of six films by three European directors of prodigious talent will be screened - Danish radical director Lars von Trier's "Breaking the Waves" and "Dancer in the Dark", Spanish colourful director Pedro Almodóvar's "Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios" [EN title: Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown] and "Madres paralelas" [EN title: Parallel Mothers], and British paranoid director Peter Greenaway's "A Zed & Two Noughts" [Japanese title "ZOO"] and "The Book of Prospero".

Saturday 25 May 2024
Programme A *Two films will be screened twice each for this programme.
　10:00-12:38 "Breaking the Waves" *R15+
　13:00-15:20 "Dancer in the Dark" *PG12
　15:40-18:18 "Breaking the Waves" *R15+
　18:30-20:50 "Dancer in the Dark" *PG12

Sunday 26 May 2024
Programme B
　10:00-11:28 "Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown"
　11:40-13:43 "Parallel Mothers" *R15+
Programme C
　14:45-16:41 "A Zed & Two Noughts" **
　16:50-18:56 "Prospero's Book" **

**Suitable for viewers aged 18 years and over.

Program descriptions

Saturday 25 May 2024

Programme A

(1) 10:00-12:38, (2) 15:40-18:18
Breaking the Waves
1996 / 158 min / Denmark / Colour / DCP *R15+
Director: Lars von Trier
Cast: Emily Watson, Stellan Stellesgaard, Katrin Cartlidge and others
Language: English with Japanese subtitle

Set in a cold village in 1970s Scotland, England. Beth, an innocent girl of faith raised in an exclusive village, marries a stranger, Jan, an oil field worker. The only person who celebrates is her sister-in-law. Every day Beth prays to God for Jan's early return, but Jan returns paralysed from an accident. Beth feels it is her fault and tries to fulfil Jan's unreasonable requests... This masterpiece won the Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and numerous other film awards, and cemented the director's name. The beautiful Scottish scenery and music are also stunning.

(1) 13:00-15:20, (2) 18:30-20:50
Dancer in the Dark　
2000 / 140 min / Denmark / Colour / DCP *PG12
Director: Lars von Trier
Cast: Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse and others
Language: English with Japanese subtitle

Selma, a Czech immigrant woman in America, lives a poor life with her only son. Both of them are blind, and Selma has been saving money for her son's eye operation, but the money is stolen by a money-hungry neighbour. As Selma's eyesight worsens, she tries to get the money back, but the neighbour dies when a gun goes off. Selma gives the money to the ophthalmologist quickly, but is caught for murder... Icelandic punk-turned-diva Björk plays the lead role in this moving film with a magical flavour, in which imaginary scenes are turned into a musical. Winner of the Palme d'Or, the Cannes Film Festival's top prize.

Saturday, 26 May 2024

Programme B
10:00-11:28
Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios [English title: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown]　
1987 / 88 min / Spain / Colour / Blu-ray
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Carmen Maura, Fernando Guillén, Antonio Banderas and others
Language: Spanish with Japanese subtitle

A blackly humorous portrayal of the great turmoil that ensues around Pepa, a woman whose lover suddenly leaves her, her old lover Lucia, Lucia's son and his fiancée, and her terrorist lover. A flood of intense colours, a cast of unforgettable personalities, and a love rhapsody with joyful and sad Latin music. An early masterpiece that brought Almodóvar international recognition, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film.

11:40-13:43
Madres paralelas [English title: Parallel Mothers]
2021 / 123 min / Spain, France / Colour / DCP *R15+
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde and others
Language: Spanish with Japanese subtitle

The film depicts the strange fate of two mothers, Janice, a photographer, and 17-year-old Ana, who gave birth to a baby girl on the same day in the same hospital, with the Spanish Civil War intertwined. Janice's ex-boyfriend tells her that he doesn't believe it is her child, and a DNA test reveals that it is not her real child. Janice seals her secret, but a year later she meets Anna again by chance... The colourful fashion and sense of colour are alive and well. Penélope Cruz, who plays Janice, won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.

C Programme

14:45-16:41
A Zed & Two Noughts [Japanese titled "ZOO"]
1985 / 116 min / UK / Colour / DCP *Suitable for viewers aged 18 years and over.
Director: Peter Greenaway Music: Michael Nyman
Cast: Andrea Ferreol, Brian Deacon, Eric Deacon and others
Language: English with Japanese subtitle

Twin brothers Oswald and Oliver work in a zoo in Rotterdam. One day, they lose their wives at the same time in a car accident when they collide with a swan. Alba, who was driving, survives but loses one of her legs.
The twin becomes interested in the process of animal decomposition after the car accidents, and eventually they and Alba get close and twins are born. An intense, beautiful and shocking film with a symmetrical composition and Michael Nyman's melody. The first Greenaway film to be introduced to Japan. The unexpurgated edition will be screened.

16:50-18:56
Prospero's Book
1991 / 126 min / UK / Colour / DCP *Suitable for viewers aged 18 years and over.
Director: Peter Greenaway Music: Michael Nyman Costume Designer: Emi Wada
Cast: John Gielgud, Michael Clarke, Michel Blanc, Erland Josephson, Ute Lemper and others
Language: English with Japanese subtitle

Prospero, Grand Duke of Milan, is driven from his country by his brother Antonio, who has conspired with King Alonzo of Naples, and imprisoned with his daughter Miranda on an isolated island in the middle of the sea. Prospero, who has never forgotten his revenge against Alonzo, reads the 24 books of magic given to him by his friend Gonzalo and gains powerful powers, manipulating Caliban, a monster with demonic powers on the island, and Aeriel, a fairy, to carry out his magical revenge. Based on Shakespeare's play "The Tempest", this is an epic revenge drama about a man with 24 magic books in his hands. Costumes were designed by leading Japanese designer Emi Wada. The unexpurgated edition will be screened this time.

Film Directors' Biographies

Peter Greenaway
Born 1942 in Newport, Wales, UK. As a child, he was interested in art and was fascinated by the paintings of Johannes Vermeer and others, and aspired to become a painter. On the other hand, she also had a strong interest in cinema and became obsessed with Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, etc. She made her feature debut in 1980 with the fake documentary The Falls, directed The English Garden Murders in 1982, won the 41st Cannes Film Festival's artistic contribution award in 1988 for Drowned in Numbers, and was awarded the Prix d'Orsay at the 89th Cannes International Film Festival in 1989. In 1989, he shook the world with The Cook and the Thief, His Wife and Her Mistress, for which Jean-Paul Gaultier was in charge of costumes. Subsequent films include Peter Greenaway's Pillow Book (1996) and Rembrandt's Night Watch (2007), for which he received the 67th British Academy Award for Best Contribution to British Cinema in 2014 for his contribution to the British film industry. In recent years, he has been actively involved in the art direction of contemporary art. He is preparing a new film, Lucca Mortis (tentative title), set in the Italian city of Lucca, starring Dustin Hoffman.

Pedro Almodóvar
Born 1949 in Ciudad Real, Spain, Almodóvar's first feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bon and Many Other Daughters, which he produced independently in 1980, became a cult favourite. Since then, his unique story and world view, as well as his intense sense of colour, have won him an enthusiastic following both at home and abroad, and his seventh film, Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown, won the Best Screenplay Award at the Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, making him a household name worldwide. After High Heels (1991) and Kika (1993), she won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, for All About My Mother (1999). His follow-up, Talk to Her (2002), won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay and made him one of Spain's leading film directors. Since then, he has made many films, including Embrace of a Piece (2009), I, the Skin I Live In (2011) and Pain and Glory (2007).

Lars von Trier
Born 1956 in Copenhagen, von Trier began making films as a teenager and studied at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Film Studies and the Danish Film School. Won the Special Grand Prix du Jury for The Miracle Sea in 1996 and the Palme d'Or for Dancer in the Dark in 2000. In 1995, together with Thomas Binterbeer and others, he proposed Dogma 95, a film movement that laid down ten rules for film production, including the use of hand-held cameras. He has since released Dogville (2003), Antichrist (2009) and Nymphomaniac Vol.1 & Vol.2 (2013). His experimental and provocative style has always been controversial.