The Art of Emotion. Homage to Takahata Isao

The National Museum of Cinema will present the film series entitled The Art of Emotion. Homage to Takahata Isao at Cinema Massimo from Monday, 18 June through Tuesday, 3 July 2018.

Following his recent death on 5 April 2018, the film series renders homage to this Japanese animated film director, screenplay writer, and producer and to his world of children, princesses, and daily life. Takahata began his career with the Toei Animation Company in 1959 where he met Miyazaki Hayao, with whom he later founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 – an event that would revolutionize the Japanese animated film industry and create a legacy in the art form. As film director, Takahata was especially interested in telling stories about social or environmental engagement within an emotionally charged microcosm. This can be seen, for example, in Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, My Neighbors the Yamadas, and the more recent film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, for which he received an Oscar nomination in 2014.

The series starts on Monday, 18 June at 20.30 at Cinema Massimo, Sala Tre, with the showing of Grave of the Fireflies (Japan 1988).

Tickets: €6,00/4,00/3,00

Program

Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka)

(Japan 1988, 89’, HD, color, original with subtitles in Italian)

A boy named Seita dies amidst general indifference in a railway station. In a field dotted with the lights of fireflies, Seita’s spirit joins  that of his sister, Setsuko, who recently died. Through a long flashback the film tells the bitter story of brother and sister fleeing the bombardment of Kōbe in their attempt to reach safety and a better future.

Mon. 18 June 20.30/Wed. 20 June 18.15

Only Yesterday (Omohide Poro Poro)

(Japan 1991, 118’, HD, color, original with subtitles in Italian

Twenty-seven-year-old Okajima Taeko is an employee, single, with no plans for marriage, and caught between the freedoms of a modern lifestyle and the weight of traditional family conventions. While on a brief trip back home to Yamagata she relives childhood memories that will challenge her adult life choices.

Sat. 23 June 20.30/Tues. 26 June 18.30

Pom Poko (Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko)

(Japan 1994, 119‘, HD, color, original with subtitles in Italian)

The tanuki battle to regain the Tama Hills outside Tokyo threatened by a suburban development project. Neither pacific nor aggressive strategies succeed in defending their habitat against the ruthless real estate developers.

Mon. 25 June, 20.45/Fri. 29 June 18.00

Sunada Mami - director

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (Yume to kyoki no okoku)

(Japan 2013, 118’, HD, color, original with Italian subtitles)

Sunada Mami directs this documentary about working on two recent animated film projects: Miyazaki Hayao’s The Wind Rises and Takahata Isao’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. The film provides insight into the skill behind the genius of a shy Takahata largely off camera.

Sat. 30 June, 18.00/Wed. 4 July, 20.30

My Neighbors the Yamadas (Houhokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun)

(Japan 1999, 103?, HD, color, original with Italian subtitles)

The Yamadas are a typical middle-class family Tokyo family. Takahata depicts the family’s daily life as a comedy and in water color, as requested by the director. To obtain this effect, the traditional coloring of the cells by hand is replaced with digital technology, making this the first computer-animated film released by Studio Ghibli.

Sat. 30 June, 20.30/Mon. 2 July 18.00

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Kaguya-hime no monogatari)

(Japan 2013, 137’, HD, color, original with Italian subtitles)

One day, Okina, a bamboo cutter, finds a tiny, luminous regal creature inside a bamboo sprout. He takes it home, it transforms into an infant, and he and his wife raise it as their own daughter. Later, he returns to the forest to find gold issuing forth from a bamboo tree, which he interprets as a divine sign to make the girl into a princess.

Tue. 3 June, 20.30/Wed. 4 July, 18.00