In this lavishly illustrated talk with clips and slides Adrian Wootton (CEO of Film London and film curator) will explore Kurosawa’s remarkable trilogy of films, Throne of Blood, The Bad Sleep Well and Ran, adapting Shakespeare plays into resonant cinema that also drew deeply on Japanese history and artistic traditions of painting and theatre.
Adrian Wootton OBE is Chief Executive of Film London and the British Film Commission. Adrian is a Programme Advisor to the BFI London Film Festival; Venice Film Festival and Noir in Fest, Milan; Founding Director of Shots in the Dark Festival, Nottingham and Curator of the annual Cinema Made in Italy programme, London.
Adrian is a recognised authority in various film/TV and literature subjects (Hollywood, crime and mystery and Italian Cinema amongst others) and regularly lectures, writes broadcasts and curates programmes on them. In 2016 Adrian wrote and coproduced the BBC Arena Documentary Shakespeare on Screen.
In 2012, Adrian received an Honorary Doctorate in the Arts and was appointed Visiting Professor of Film & Media at Norwich University of the Arts. In 2014, Adrian received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of East Anglia and in 2017 was awarded an OBE for Services to Film.
Reading suggestions
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Akira Kurosawa, Something Like an Autobiography (Vintage Books, 1983)
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Donald Ritchie, The Films of Akira Kurosawa (University of California Press, 1986)
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Robert N Watson, Throne of Blood (BFI Film Classic, Bloomsbury, 2020)
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Roger Manvell, Shakespeare and the Film (A. S. Barnes, 1979)
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Stephen Prince, The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa, (Princeton University Press, 1999)
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Russell Jackson (editor), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
KUROSAWA
Stray Dog (Nora Inu)
Wed 1 Feb 20:35; Mon 13 Feb 18:10
Drunken Angel (Yoidore Tenshi)
Thu 2 Feb 18:20; Fri 10 Feb 20:40
The Silent Duel (Shizukanaru Kettô)
Thu 2 Feb 20:40; Sat 11 Feb 18:40
Sanshiro Sugata (Sugata Sanshirô)
Fri 3 Feb 18:20 (+ intro by Ian Haydn Smith, season co-curator); Sun 12 Feb 15:50
Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (Zoku Sugata Sanshirô)
Fri 3 Feb 20:45; Sun 12 Feb 18:20
The Gathering Storm: Kurosawa Study Day
Sat 4 Feb 12:00
Living (Ikiru)
Sat 4 Feb 17:50; Wed 15 Feb 20:15
Kurosawa and Shakespeare, Adaptation and Reinvention: An illustrated talk by Adrian Wootton
Sun 5 Feb 15:15
Ran
Sun 5 Feb 17:30 (+ intro by Adrian Wooton, CEO of Film London and film curator); Sat 11 Feb 11:50; Sat 25 Feb 17:20
I Live in Fear (Ikimono no Kiroku)
Mon 6 Feb 18:10; Mon 13 Feb 20:40
Dreams (Yume)
Wed 8 Feb 20:30; Sun 26 Feb 15:30
Red Beard (Akahige)
Sat 11 Feb 15:20 (+ intro by Ian Haydn Smith, season co-curator); Sun 26 Feb 17:25
Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jô)
Sun 12 Feb 13:00; Fri 17 Feb 20:40; Tue 21 Feb 18:10
Dersu Uzala
Thu 16 Feb 18:10 (+ intro by Ian Haydn Smith, season co-curator); Mon 27 Feb 20:10 (+ intro by Doug Weir, BFI Technical Delivery Manager)
Yojimbo (Yôjinbô)
Sat 18 Feb 20:45; Thu 23 Feb 20:15 (+ intro by Asif Kapadia, season co-curator)
Rhapsody in August (Hachigatsu no Kyoshikoku)
Sun 19 Feb 18:30; Sat 25 Feb 12:40
Mâdadayo
Mon 20 Feb 20:20; Tue 28 Feb 18:00
Philosophical Screens: Throne of Blood
Tue 21 Feb 20:10
A.K.
Wed 22 Feb 20:50; Sat 25 Feb 20:45
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