ECC's International Film Series features Japanese ghost story
Experience some of the best in foreign cinema this fall during the Elgin Community College Humanities Center's International Film Series.
Held the first and second Friday of each month, the series is part of the center's effort to foster cross-cultural understanding through cinema.
Screenings are held at 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted to help support ECC study-abroad scholarships.
For details and to view trailers of this fall's featured films, visit http://www.ecchumanities.org/.
Upcoming films include:
'Ugetsu'
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3 and 10
Where: Building H, Room 142
"Ugetsu" is a ghost story like no other. The supreme cinematic achievement of the Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi, it is based on stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant. A haunting tale of love and loss, with an exquisite blending of the otherworldly and the real, it is said to be one of the most beautiful films ever made.
Set during a period of bloody civil war in 16th century Japan, Ugetsu focuses on common people swept up in a flood tide of social upheaval. Centered on a recurring theme for Mizoguchi, a woman is pitted against a money-oriented, male-dominated world. The opening shot is one of several of Mizoguchi's famous "scroll shots," so named for the way the camera pans across the landscape like a Japanese scroll painting.
Winner of the 1953 Silver Lion Award for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival, the film is 94 minutes long, in Japanese with English subtitles.
'Waltz with Bashir'
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7 and 14
Where: Building G, Spartan Auditorium
"Waltz with Bashir" (2008) is an Israeli animated documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman.
One night at a bar, an old friend tells Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. He dreamed it every night, with the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early 1980s.
Ari is surprised that he can't remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.
Winner of both the 2008 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film and the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the 90-minute film is in Hebrew with English subtitles.