ARCHIVED ONLINE EVENT - The Japan Society Film Club: Forever a Woman directed by Kinuyo Tanaka

Date
Wednesday 3 April 2024
Time
6.30pm (BST)
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Booking Details
Online meeting on Zoom
Please register for the meeting in advance from the link below. After registering, you will receive a automated confirmation email with meeting access details (please check your spam folder if you don't receive any emails).

Free for members of The Japan Society

Please remember to watch the film in advance.
Forever a Woman will be screened on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 March, and Monday 1 April at The Garden Cinema in London, part of their film season Japanese Golden Age. Check The Garden Cinema website for more information and to buy tickets.

Please help us to keep this event free and open to all! The activities of The Japan Society are made possible thanks to the support of its members. If you are planning to attend this event and are not a member (as an individual or through your employer), please consider becoming a member or making a donation if you can - the recommended donation is £5. Thank you!

For our film club in April we invite you to watch Forever a Woman, a touching woman's film directed by star Kinuyo Tanaka.

Forever a Woman (aka The Eternal Breasts, 乳房よ永遠なれ, Chibusa yo eien nare, 1955), is based on the life of Fumiko Nakajo (1922–1954), a renowned tanka poet who died of breast cancer at the age of 31. The story follows Fumiko's struggles with illness, relationships, and societal expectations as she strives to pursue her passion for writing. With a script by female scriptwriter Sumie Tanaka and directed by female star Kinuyo Tanaka, Forever a Woman creates a compelling narrative that resonates with themes of artistic ambition, motherhood and the historical constraints placed on women while offering a daring depiction of female body, sexuality and desire.

Kinuyo Tanaka (1909-1977) is one of the most celebrated stars in the history of Japanese cinema. She dedicated her whole life to cinema, acting in over 250 films and collaborating with important directors such as Heinosuke Gosho, Yasujiro Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita, Naruse Mikio and Kenji Mizoguchi. Among her most memorable perfomances are The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine (1931), Dragnet Girl (1933), Army (1944), The Life of Oharu (1952), Mother (1952), and Sandakan No. 8 (1974). In the post-war period, Tanaka herself became a director and made six feature films between 1953 and 1962 working within the mainstream cinema produced by the Japanese studio system. She was the only female director active during the post-war Golden Age of Japanese cinema in the late 1950s. Her outstanding career in front of and behind the camera accompanies the history and technical transformations of cinema in Japan, from the silent era until the late 1970s, also embodying the socio-political and cultural changes of the Japanese society in those years.

Do you love Japanese film classics, anime or contemporary cinema stories? Do you miss Japan and want to see it at least on screen? Would you like to learn and discuss about Japanese culture and society? The Japan Society Film Club is an online space to chat about films and Japan in an informal atmosphere. It takes place on the first Wednesday of the month. We recommend a film to watch in advance and meet online to discuss. Films are often available online for free, to rent or with subscription, on DVD/Blu Ray or on BFI player. The event is open to all and we encourage participants to freely express their opinions and feelings about the films.

If you have any questions, please call The Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.