One of the most visually audacious and spellbinding films by avant-garde genre master Shinoda Masahiro is his hallucinatory adaption of a 1913 kabuki play about a village both cursed and protected by a promise made long ago to powerful spirits dwelling in the bottom of a nearby lake. By giving dynamic cinematic form to the traditional play, and by casting top kabuki star Bando Tamasaburo in the leading role, Shinoda paid rich homage to Shochiku’s legacy as a kabuki-cinema company. An established cult favorite, Demon Pond has been difficult to see until the very recent digital restoration by Shochiku that will be showcased in this screening and that will serve as the basis for the new 35mm print to be added to the Shochiku Centennial Collection.