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The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo

Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto

I am Sion Sono!

Directed by Sion Sono
Introduction by Alex Zahlten

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      The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo and I am Sion Sono! introduction by Alexander Zahlten.

      PROGRAM

      • The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo (Denchu Kozo no Boken)

        Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto.
        Japan, 1988, DCP, color, 47 min.
        Japanese with English subtitles.
        DCP source: Pia Film Festival

      The early jishu films of two of the most well-known filmmaker/artists from Japan show the unbridled energy that this form of filmmaking allowed. In his joyfully inventive film, Tsukamoto—who can currently be seen playing one of the main roles in Martin Scorsese’s Silence—prefigures many of the cyberpunk themes of the more grim visual assault of his international breakthrough film, Tetsuo, The Iron Man (1989). Here the story of a teenage boy who discovers an electric pylon growing out of his back and is soon forced to battle cyborg vampires over the future of humanity touches upon Tsukamoto’s theme of the body melding with technology in a playfully manic tone.

      • I am Sion Sono! (Ore wa Sono Shion da!!)

        Directed by Sion Sono.
        Japan, 1984, DCP, color, 37 min.
        Japanese with English subtitles.
        DCP source: Pia Film Festival

      The intensely prolific Sono is one of the most constant presences from Japan at international festivals now, but his career is one of creativity in overdrive well beyond film. A published poet by his teens, Sono became an important presence in poetry, experimental theater, and—with this personal, adrenalized experimental film—stepped into the world of moving images. Navigating sometimes exuberant, sometimes uncomfortable territory, I am Sion Sono! explores the possibilities of film as part of a much larger artistic project.

      Part of film series

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      Harvard Undergraduate Cinematheque

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      Albert Serra, or Cinematic Time Regained

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      Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy

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      Planet at 50

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      The Yugoslav Junction Continues!

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      Theo Anthony, Subject to Review

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      The Ideal Cinematheque of the Outskirts of the World

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      From the collection – Satyajit Ray