March 8, 2005 MUCHO OZU ACTIVITY! I'm receiving around 3 or 4 emails a week about Ozu-related screenings and retrospectives around the world at the moment. Whilst I am ecstatic that this is happening, I am unable to update the site with these notices as they arrive. I shall attempt to collate the most recent notices here: DENVER, USA There is a three-film, three-weekend Yasujiro Ozu Retrospective Film Series starting Saturday March 12 at Starz FilmCenter in Denver. At Saturday's 7:00pm screenings, Mar 12, Mar 19 and Mar 25, Starz FilmCenter Director of Education Howie Movshovitz hosts audience discussions and spokespersons from The Japan America Society of Colorado provide details about Japanese culture depicted in the film. Titles are presented from archive 35mm film prints on Starz FilmCenter's reel-to-reel projection system. TORONTO, CANADA Cinematheque Ontario in Toronto is re-running some of the Ozu films in April which it ran in the big Ozu retrospective last year. NEW ZEALAND A programme of Ozu's films is touring the Federation of Film Societies in New Zealand over April and May 2005. 35mm prints of I Was Born But, Record of a Tenement Gentlemen, Late Spring, Early Summer, Tokyo Story, Equinox Flower, What did the Lady Forget?, and An Autumn Afternoon. In Christchurch they are screening: What Did the Lady Forget? on May 9, and Tokyo Story on May 16. NORTH CAROLINA, USA As part of a film studies class taught by Dilip Barman on Thursdays March 3 - May 19, 2005 at the NC School of Science and Math, there will be screenings of films by Satyajit Ray and Yasujiro Ozu. There is space in the screening room to allow a small number of members of the general public to join the viewing. If you are interested in viewing any of these films, please contact me at barman at jhu.edu (use the @ instead of " at ") in advance for details including directions and to be on the guest list for admittance. The school is near Duke's East Campus and the films will be shown between 6:30 and 9pm.

January 18, 2005 OZU IN SEATTLE The Northwest Film Forum in Seattle, WA (USA) will be having a huge, 5-week Ozu retrospective from Feb 3 to March 11, 2005. During that time, they will be doing NOTHING BUT OZU, showing 10 silents with live accompaniment from internationally-renowned musicians such as Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, John Atkins (formerly of the rock band 764-HERO), Lori Goldston (of the Black Cat Orchestra) and Elizabeth Falconer (one of the West Coast's foremost players of the Koto), the Aono Jikken Ensemble, Carla Torgerson (of the alt-country band The Walkabouts), and more. The series kicks off with I Was Born, But... on Feb 3. All the soundtracks that are being commissioned for this series will be recorded by Chroma Studios for use on upcoming DVD releases from the Criterion Collection. Their website is nwfilmforum.org. With a special Ozu page: here. Lucky, lucky Seattle!

December 7, 2004 OZU DVDs IN THE UK! Tartan Video (UK) have just released their first Ozu box set in the UK. Following Artificial Eye's Floating Weeds and End of Summer earlier this year, Tartan's Noriko Trilogy set contains Late Spring (first time in the West on DVD!), Early Summer, and Tokyo Story. The box says they have selected scene commentaries, but if they have, I can't find them. The films are presented in a fold-out digipak with a booklet of five short essays. There's a lot more where this came from. In February 2005, Tartan release Record of a Tenement Gentleman in a double-set with Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, and Tartan have already announced Good Morning, Equinox Flower, and An Autumn Afternoon for later in 2005. Can't wait!!

December 6, 2004 OZU IN CANADA The Metro Cinema in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is hosting four new 35mm prints from the touring Yasujiro Ozu retrospective from 17-20 December, 2004. The films are I Was Born, But..., Late Spring, Tokyo Story, and An Autumn Afternoon. They have a pdf here.

September 7, 2004 OZU IN THE MIDWEST UW Madison Cinematheque — which is code for University of Wisconsin, Madison, Cinematheque (USA) — have just started their Ozu retrospective. Check here for full details. [Thanks to Matt Bailey] ------------- Ozu is also coming to the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago in January and February 2005. Click here for the announcement.

August 14, 2004 OZU RETROSPECTIVES IN AUSTRALIA & JAPAN Australia: Firstly, the Melbourne Cinematheque at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne's Federation Square will be screening its Ozu retrospective from mid-September 2004. There are also screenings in other Australian capital cities - see the website here. Melbourne: Cinematheque @ ACMI Cinemas (tel 8663 2583) Federation Square Flinders St, Melbourne Sep 15 Wed 7pm Tokyo Story; 9:25pm Passing Fancy Sep 22 Wed 7pm Late Autumn; 9:15pm The Brothers & Sisters of the Toda Family Sep 29 Wed 7pm Record of a Tenement Gentleman 8.20pm The Only Son; 9:55pm Dragnet Girl Sydney: Chauvel cinema (tel 9361 5398) Paddington Town Hall, Cnr Oatley Rd & Oxford St Sep 20 Mon 7pm Tokyo Story; 9:25pm Passing Fancy Sep 27 Mon 7pm The Brothers & Sisters of the Toda Family; 8:55pm The Only Son; 10.30pm Record of a Tenement Gentleman Oct 4 Mon 7pm Late Autumn; 9:55pm Dragnet Girl Adelaide: Media Resource Centre Mercury cinema (8410-0979) 13 Morphett St Adelaide Sep 13 Mon 7pm Tokyo Story Sep 20 Mon 7pm Late Autumn; 9:20pm Record of a Tenement Gentleman Sep 27 Mon 7pm Passing Fancy; 8:55pm Dragnet Girl Oct 4 Mon 7pm The Only Son; 8:40pm The Brothers & Sisters of the Toda Family Hobart: State Cinema (tel 6234 6318) 75 Elizabeth St, Nth Hobart Sep 20 Mon 6:30pm The Only Son Sep 27 Mon 6:30pm Tokyo Story Oct 4 Mon 6:30pm Passing Fancy Japan: Secondly, an Ozu festival is to be held in Tateshina Kogen, Japan for two days - October 30 & 31, 2004. Website here. [Thanks to Michelle Gilchrist, Yasushi Hirai, and Hiko Ikeda]

June 29, 2004 OZU AT BAM Brooklyn Academy of Music (USA) are having an Ozu Festival throughout this Summer. Full details here. [Thanks to Stephen Litner]

May 18, 2004 OZU SCREENINGS IN GERMANY Starting in the next few days at Filmmuseum Munich (Germany) is a series of Ozu films to celebrate the centenary. You can download their pdf programme here (it's in German). The films will also be shown in June and July at: - Metropolis Hamburg - Filmpodium Zurich - Stadtkino Basel Please check their websites in due time. [Thanks to Klaus Volkmer]

May 12, 2004 MORE FROM CRITERION Further to last month's incredible Floating Weeds / The Story of Floating Weeds 2 x disc special edition, the marvellous Criterion Collection (USA) are releasing Early Summer (1953) with Donald Richie commentary in July! Not far off! -- and we're looking forward to it very much, but it kills off any hope of a Criterion "OZU'S SEASONS" box set (the Floating Weeds release in turn killed off the chance of a glorious "OZU IN COLOUR" box set too). We believe that The Only Son may be coming before the end of the year. Perhaps Criterion are planning a box set of Ozu's silents whilst releasing his talkies separately?

April 16, 2004 SPANISH DVD BOX SET A seven-film DVD box set has just been released in Spain. It features only Spanish subtitles and there are no extras. The films in the set are: Tokyo Story, Late Spring, Good Morning, Late Autumn, Flavour Of Green Tea Over Rice, Floating Weeds, I Was Born, But... [Thanks to Santi Trullenque for sending the info!]

April 15, 2004 KIAROSTAMI OZU TRIBUTE Abbas Kiarostami's film Five: Dedicated to Ozu will be showing at Cannes this year. Apparently, it is actor-less, without dialogue, and in five parts, each lasting 15 minutes. It has already been shown in Japan at the Yasujiro Ozu Centenary celebrations in December last year - along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Ozu tribute. In an ideal world these two related works would appear together in a nice DVD set! [Thanks to Antony and Raymond for the info]

March 29, 2004 OZU IN PORTLAND, OREGON (USA) An Ozu festival -- Yasujiro Ozu: A Centennial Celebration -- is currently running in Portland, Oregon, USA (from March 5 - April 18) and is presented by the Portland Art Museum Northwest Film Center. Eighteen films are scheduled and the audience is apparently growing with each screening! Thanks to Blaine for the info.

March 16, 2004 INEKO ARIMA An interesting article about the actress Ineko Arima appeared in English here at asahi.com in November 2003. Great piece. [Thanks to Michael for sending that in]

February 28, 2004 HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE The Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge, MA (USA) is playing host to the Ozu Centennial Celebration from April 2 to May 11. Click here for full details. Special events include an opening night talk by Susan Sontag (April 2) and a live benshi accompaniment to I Was Born, But... by Midori Sawato (April 24). Thanks to Matthew Packwood for the info.

February 2, 2004 BORDWELL LECTURE ON FRIDAY David Bordwell will be the special guest of Cinematheque Ontario (CANADA) in their Cinematheque Lecture series and will be giving a presentation on Ozu this Friday (Feb 6. 2004). Here are the full details: Cinematheque Ontario Lecture Series: David Bordwell on Yasujiro Ozu Friday, February 6, 2004 6:30 PM There can be no better guide to the work of Yasujiro Ozu than David Bordwell, Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison. It is the rare scholar whose every book - whether on Dreyer, Eisenstein, film theory, or the popular cinema of Hong Kong - becomes the crucial study of its subject, and Bordwell is that. Revered as both a teacher - his students fill the ranks of many film programmes, archives, and faculties across North America - and as a passionate, accessible "explainer" of complicated ideas and difficult directors, Bordwell is peerless in his field. Author of the magisterial study, Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema (1988, Princeton University Press), Bordwell will tonight illuminate the work of one of his most esteemed directors. Single tickets are $10 (including GST) for Cinematheque Ontario members and $15 for non-members. Members, students, and seniors can attend all three events in this season's Lecture Series for $25; non-members for $35. Please note: All films are screened at the Art Gallery of Ontario's Jackman Hall, 317 Dundas Street West (use McCaul Street entrance), Toronto, Ontario. All screenings are restricted to those 18 years of age or older. Tickets: 416-968-FILM Cinematheque Ontario's website

February 1, 2004 THE LATEST OZU DVDs The Criterion Collection (USA) have announced their highly anticipated The Story of Floating Weeds (1934) / Floating Weeds (1959) double-disc set. The 1934 silent film has a Donald Richie commentary and a new score by Donald Sosin. The 1959 film has a Roger Ebert commentary, and both films feature new subtitle translations by Donald Richie. Artificial Eye (UK) have just released a slightly problematic, barebones UK PAL R2 disc of Floating Weeds, but their End of Summer disc (released at the same time) is very fine. I've provided short technical reviews to DVDBeaver. The direct links are: End of Summer and Floating Weeds. The End of Summer disc is highly recommended because the subtitles are flawless and this title doesn't seem to be coming out in any other territory at the moment (with Eng subs).

January 24, 2004 OZU STAMPS There's a lovely page at Kurt Easterwood's site detailing the Ozu stamps from last year. Much better scans than the old pics that were at ozuyasujiro.com before.

January 14, 2004 TOKYO STORY ACROSS THE UK Thanks to the kind soul who sent me a Tokyo Story postcard announcing the new theatrical run of Tokyo Story across the UK starting from January 16. Check your nearest arthouse for details! (no point looking at the "multiperplex", it won't be there!)

January 8, 2004 OZU IN CANADA Firstly, in Toronto, Cinematheque Ontario launch their massive Ozu retrospective on January 16, 2004. Special Passport to Ozu tickets are available here. [Thanks to Shireen Seno for the info!] Secondly, in Vancouver, Pacific Cinematheque will be screening 33 of Ozu's films in a retrospective spanning three months. Yasujiro Ozu: A Centennial Celebration will run from 23 January to 20 March 2004. Full details on their website here. [Thanks to Steve Chow for the info!]

January 6, 2004 OZU IN DETROIT The following retrospective of Ozu films will screen at the Detroit Film Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, on consecutive Monday nights beginning on March 22. Some lesser-seen titles are among the films being shown: March 22, 2004 - The Only Son March 29, 2004 - Good Morning April 5, 2004 - There Was a Father April 12, 2004 - Record of a Tenement Gentleman April 19, 2004 - A Hen in the Wind April 26, 2004 - Early Spring May 3, 2004 - Equinox Flower May 10, 2004 - Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family May 17, 2004 - Floating Weeds May 24, 2004 - Dragnet Girl Thanks to Gary Wilson for the info!

December 10, 2003 There's a fantastic new interview with Donald Richie at Midnight Eye. Congrats to Jasper for such a fine, much needed piece!

December 4, 2003 OZU ON TV IN JAPAN There's lots of Ozu on TV this month. In Japan, NHK (the Japanese national broadcast station), is going to show Ozu films on its satellite channel. Full details here. OZU ON TV IN ENGLAND FilmFour are showing lots of Ozu this month, and BBC4 are showing End of Summer and Floating Weeds too (these two are coming out on DVD via Artificial Eye in February). TOKYO STORY AT THE NFT An extended run of Tokyo Story will be at the NFT (London) in January. DUTCH DVDs! In January 2004, Netherlands distributor Bright Angel will issue a box with 5 x DVDs: Tokyo Story, Late Spring, Good Morning, Early Summer and The End Of Summer. This should be of interest for those that prefer Dutch subtitles.

November 24, 2003 Finally, details of the Parisian Ozu Retrospective in France. It began on Nov 19 and goes through to Dec 9 at the Action Ecoles cinema. There are 17 films in total. Unlike most of the other retrospectives this year, the prints are not new. Late Autumn - Nov 19, Dec 3 The End of Summer - Nov 20, Dec 8 Good Morning - Nov 21, Dec 4 Tokyo Story - Nov 22, 30 An Autumn Afternoon - Nov 23, 29, Dec 7 Late Spring - Nov 24 Early Summer - Nov 25 Equinox Flower - Nov 26 An Inn in Tokyo / Dragnet Girl (double feature) - Nov 27 A Woman of Tokyo / A Mother Should Be Loved (double feature) - Nov 28 A Story of Floating Weeds - Dec 1 The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice - Dec 2 Tokyo Twilight - Dec 5 I Was Born, But... - Dec 6 Early Spring - Dec 9

November 15, 2003 There is an Ozu retrospective in Taiwan next month. Organised by P.O.P. Cinema (an organisation chaired by Hou Hsiao-Hsien), it will comprise all 35 extant Ozu films, Wenders' Tokyo-ga, as well as two films by Mizoguchi (Sisters of the Gion, Osaka Elegy) and five by Naruse (Floating Clouds, Late Chrysanthemums, Sound of the Mountain, When A Woman Ascends the Stairs, and Scattered Clouds). There will be comprehensive screenings of the films in Taipei Dec 9-26, 2003 and selected screenings in other cities (Hsinchu, Kaohsiung, and Taoyuan) in January and February. Thanks to Ian Johnston for the news. He's particularly happy because they have English subtitles (not always a given in Taiwan, of course).

November 7, 2003 Unfortunately, Panorama's new Ozu DVDs have less than desirable English subtitles. Their An Autumn Afternoon disc is especially incoherent, with misspellings, poor syntax and whole swathes of dialogue untranslated. A shambles basically. We have written to Panorama expressing our unhappiness. You can write to them here. ------- This month in Japan a set of Yasujiro Ozu stamps have been released. Click here for a picture. Thanks to Kimitoshi Sato for letting us know.

November 3, 2003 BAM/PFA (University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, & Pacific Film Archive) has published the full schedule of its Ozu retrospective (Nov 23 - Dec 21) here.

October 30, 2003 I have written about Panorama's new DVD of Late Autumn here. ------- Alastair Phillips has an article on Ozu in the new issue of Screen (vol 44, no. 2 Summer 2003) entitled "Pictures of the Past in the Present: Modernity, Femininity and Stardom in the Postwar Films of Ozu Yasujiro". Phillips is also co-editing a book with Julian Stringer for Routledge entitled: "Japanese Cinema: texts and contexts" in which will be chapters on I Was Born, But... (by Phillips) and Late Spring by Abe Marcus Nornes. ------- Arte's Ozu DVD boxset has been delayed until February 2004.

October 20, 2003 - updated "So what's going on with all these Ozu DVDs that are coming out?" Well, here is ozuyasujiro.com's rundown of what you can expect over the next few months. Artwork and final DVD release details are now emerging from all corners of the world. The first Ozu DVDs to appear in this centenary year appeared last month in Japan with the release of the Shochiku Ozu DVD boxset. Six films were released on 6 x DVDs for $200 with no English subtitles. Reports about this set have been mixed. Many report stellar image quality but with occasional missing frames, blacked out frames, unsteady picture, and compression problems. If Criterion's track record is anything to go by, the first Ozu DVD must-buy will be their Tokyo Story special edition which is on track for an October 28 release. Panorama (Hong Kong) have just released Late Autumn on DVD. They are expected to release Early Spring very shortly (see the artwork for Late Autumn to the left, click the thumbnail for a larger image). Panorama have told us that they will have English subtitles and that they are using the new Shochiku materials. On December 3, Arte (France) release the YASUJIRO OZU - 5 FILMS EN COULEURS DVD boxset. (See the picture to the right, click the thumbnail for a larger image.) This 6 x DVD set contains Ozu's last 5 films (all in colour) together with the silent film I Was Born, But... (1932). Each of the colour films will be available separately, but it seems the only way to get the silent film will be to buy the boxset. Tartan (UK) have informed us that they will be releasing a 3 x DVD Ozu boxset in January 2004 containing Tokyo Story and two other TBC films. Further down the line in 2004 we know that Criterion will be releasing Floating Weeds (with Roger Ebert commentary and, more importantly, The Story Of Floating Weeds as a bonus); Early Summer, and "lots more". Panorama in Hong Kong plan to release all the titles that Shochiku have released in Japan, but with English subtitles (they have to wait until Japan have released them first.) Stay tuned as all this unravels!

October 16, 2003 Pascal's NYFF reports are now complete and have been compiled on one page in the Resources section.

October 3, 2003 We're getting reports that an Ozu Retrospective is being planned for Paris, France, distributed by Alive. If any French readers have more details please email.

October 2, 2003 An English translation of Yoshida Kiju's Ozu's Anti-cinema will be published in November, by the Center for Japanese Studies Publications, at the University of Michigan. There is a book reading, signing, and reception from 4-6pm on November 6 at Shaman Drum Bookshop, 311-315 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Film director Kiju Yoshida will read from Ozu's Anti-Cinema and be available to sign autographs. The University of Michigan is also hosting a Talk Show entitled Ozu's Anti-Cinema on November 8 between 3-5pm. Michael Raine (University of Chicago) will lead a discussion with Mariko Okada (who appeared in Ozu's last two films) and Yoshida Kiju about the career and cinema of Ozu. The venue is the Modern Languages Building, Auditorium 2, University of Michigan and admission is free.

October 1, 2003 If you can handle Quicktime movie files (free player at www.quicktime.com) then you can download a 3.2MB clip of a Japanese TV advert for the 1st Ozu DVD boxset here. [Huge thanks to Kimitoshi SATO for encoding and forethought, and Trond Trondsen for archiving.]

September 13, 2003 Criterion talk to www.ozuyasujiro.com about their October release of Tokyo Story (2 x DVD release).

September 12, 2003 Here is a full list of where the Ozu Retrospective is playing in the US and Canada, with dates: Walter Reade Theater, New York: 10/4 - 11/6 San Francisco: 11/14 - 11/27 PFA, Berkeley: 11/23 - 12/20 Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit: 12/12 - 12/15 Cinemateque Ontario, Toronto: 1/17 - 3/10 National Gallery, Washington D.C.: 3/5 - 5/1 (hosted jointly by the National Gallery of Art and the Freer and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution.) Detroit Film Theatre is hosting four films, starting on Ozu's birthday in December. BAM/PFA (The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, & Pacific Film Archive) will be hosting the entire retrospective in November through to December. San Francisco's Castro will be focusing on the post-war films. Lucky New Yorkers get their own Ozu Retrospective as part of the New York Film Festival. All films will be screened at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center in NYC. Click here for full details. ---------- Here is a new Ozu article from Film Comment.

September 10, 2003 Cahiers du Cinema is reporting that the world premiere of Hou Hsiao-hsien's new film Kafei Shiguang [Coffee Time] will be on December 12, 2003 in Japan (the 100th anniversary of Yasujiro Ozu's birth). Conceived as an homage to Ozu the film is written by Hou's usual screenwriter Chu Tien-wen and depicts a romance between an Ozu-like heroine, played by Taiwanese-Japanese pop singer Hitoto Yoh, and an employee in a second-hand bookshop (Tadanobu Asano, star of Maborosi, Taboo, Ichi the Killer, Bright Future, etc). Hou started shooting the film on August 2 in Japan using a small Taiwanese crew. It is set in Tokyo and Yubari, Hokkaido (which Hou used for the snow scenes in Millennium Mambo). The film's language is Japanese and shooting is planned to last until September 20. The Chinese title Kafei Shiguang translates as Coffee Time and "reflects the feeling that drinking coffee with close friends in leisurely surroundings gives you". The project was initiated by Shochiku as part of the celebrations of Ozu's birth centenary. Shochiku plans a Japanese general release in 2004 and to show it at Cannes. [Thanks to Ian Johnston for this translation]

August 18, 2003 Chris Fujiwara reports on the Ozu Retrospective at the Brisbane International Film Festival at FIPRESCI's site. He talks about the prints not being the new Shochiku prints and the beauty of seeing Ozu in 35mm.

August 4, 2003 Stone Bridge Press (USA) have informed us that they will be releasing a new book "Tokyo Story: The Ozu/Noda Screenplay" in September. Here is their blurb: "Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 Tokyo Story is regularly rated among the top films ever made and will soon be reissued on DVD. Ozu and co-writer Kogo Noda viewed the script as literature; once completed, it was little changed during filming. Here is a translation of the Japanese screenplay to Tokyo Story, with critical observations by Donald Richie on Ozu's filmmaking, a filmography, and twenty stills. Students of screenwriting will learn much from Ozu's lean approach, while film lovers will treasure this unique keepsake of a great cinematic achievement." This appears to be a brilliantly timed book (with Criterion's double-disc Tokyo Story appearing the month after!). We hope to be able to bring you a detailed review of the book sometime soon.

July 30, 2003 The matchless Criterion Collection (USA) have announced details to retailers concerning an October DVD release of Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953). It will be a 2 x disc Special Edition with a new high-definition digital transfer (restored image and sound); audio commentary by Ozu film scholar David Desser (editor of the book Ozu's Tokyo Story); Kazuo Inoue's 1983 documentary I Lived, But... a two-hour film (shot by Ozu's cameraman Atsuta) about the life and career of Ozu, featuring former assistant Shohei Imamura, critics Donald Richie and Tadao Sato, actors Chishu Ryu, Mariko Okada, Haruko Sugimura, and many more; Talking with Ozu a 30-minute tribute to Yasujiro Ozu featuring reflections from directors Stanley Kwan, Aki Kaurismaki, Claire Denis, Lindsay Anderson, Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders, and Hou Hsiao-Hsien; original theatrical trailer; a new essay by David Bordwell, author of Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema; new and improved English subtitle translation.

July 15-16, 2003 UPDATED: Panorama (Hong Kong) have informed us that they will be releasing 35 x Ozu DVD titles starting in August. Further enquiries revealed that all their DVD titles will have English subtitles, but that the titles will be released on VCD first because they have to release the DVDs after Japan. (NOTE: The VCDs will *not* have English subtitles). The first titles to be released will be Late Spring and Early Summer. Panorama have confirmed that the elements they will be using are the new remastered Japanese Shochiku elements. They have no firm release date yet for their first two DVDs. In further news today, site reader John informs us of the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) Ozu retrospective schedule. The festival runs from 29 July - 10 August and features 12 Ozu films (A Story of Floating Weeds, Early Spring, Early Summer, Equinox Flower, Good Morning, I Was Born, But..., Late Autumn, Late Spring, The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family, The Flavour of Green Rice Over Tea, & There Was A Father)

July 8, 2003 Artificial Eye bring great news! Floating Weeds is being shown at the Renoir in London on the 1st August and End of Summer on the 8th August. Both will go to DVD (UK Region 2 PAL) in October or November. So it looks like they will just pip Criterion with Floating Weeds. [Criterion's version (which is backed with The Story Of Floating Weeds and has an Ebert commentary) is now due sometime in 2004].

July 2, 2003 Shochiku have stated that their forthcoming six Ozu DVD boxsets will *not* have English subtitles. It was expected but is nevertheless very disappointing. All eyes are now on the foreign licensees (Criterion in the USA, Tartan/Artificial Eye in the UK, and Arte in France) for English subtitled Ozu DVDs.

June 26, 2003 Kurt Easterwood emailed to say he visited Ozu's resting place in Kita-Kamakura this week and managed to tie-in a visit to the nearby Kamakura Museum of Literature which was displaying Ozu paraphernalia. Kurt has recounted his journey on his beautiful website: Blog entry about Kurt's visit Ozu mini site index How to get to Ozu's gravesite A visit to the Centennial Exhibition at the Kamakura Museum of Literature Gallery of photographs --- In other news, the OZU DVD boxsets are now available for preorder at various Japanese online retailers, but beware, Shochiku have said there will NOT be any English subtitles on these discs. They retail for 23,500 Yen (£120 GBP, $200US) but there is upto 15% off if you preorder. [www.ozuyasujiro.com does not usually link to retailers but due to the sets being extremely difficult to find for Westerners, if you go to amazon.co.jp and type into their search box "B00008NJFV" for boxset #1, "B00009XLL8" for #2, "B00009XLL9" for #3, and "B00009XLLA" for #4 - you should be able to at least find some Japanese text that you can cut and paste into other websites to try and find a better price... (if there's one out there).]

June 20-25, 2003 UPDATE: Israel is also having an Ozu Retrospective at the moment, one film per day, on Channel 4 TV. Ozu fans in Italy currently enjoying RAI3's Ozu Retrospective on TV are about halfway through the complete filmography (which started in February). The channel can be seen free to air through a digibox via the Hotbird Satellite. Films are shown as part of the Fuori Orario film club, which runs all Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and late Monday evening. Details of programming can be found on the RAI website. Site reader Tom Mather reports: "One Ozu film is being shown most weeks, though not all, and of course they are subtitled in Italian. The films aren't being shown in chronological order, but usually alternate between a silent and a talkie. Also, programme times aren't exact and often run up to half an hour late. If the film is shown in the middle of an all nighter you have to guess what time it will start."

June 4, 2003 The 38th INTERNATIONAL KARLOVY VARY FILM FESTIVAL (July 4th-12th 2003) in the Czech Republic is hosting the travelling Ozu retrospective which is currently moving around the world. (Thanks to Petr Gajdosik for this news). There is also a Shochiku page here with an introduction by Shochiku president Nobuyoshi Otani and links to the Berlin, Czech, New York, Hong Kong and Istanbul festivals.

May 29, 2003 News has filtered out of Japan of a Shochiku press conference where the quality of the new digital restorations of Ozu's classics was demonstrated on TV. Our Japanese friend Kimitoshi Sato reports: Ms Arima Ineko was there, representing Ozu. TV showed a comparison between the old faded images and the digitally cured ones, including Tokyo Monogatari. Just a glimpse, but it was clear that they made efforts to make more detail available in the image. Another illustration was from color films. Dramatic changes in colors of human complexion. The hard facts on the Shochiku DVD issues are that 34 of Ozu Yasujiro's works will be released on DVD in Japan, beginning in late September 2003. They will be split into four box sets retailing for 23,500 yen each (£120GBP, $200USD), and include Fighting Friends - Japanese Style (Wasei kenka Tomodachi, 1929) and the 20 minute documentary Kagami Jishi (1935) (of Kikugoro VI performing the famous Kabuki dance of the same name), which have previously been unavailable on video.

April 25, 2003 Ozu biographer Donald Richie has unfortunately suffered a heart attack whilst in America. Apparently he has undergone surgery and is doing okay. He was in Florida visiting family and planned to travel to New York to record commentaries for Criterion, but those plans are now obviously on hold. I wish Mr Richie a very speedy recovery and hope he is soon able to continue writing books and recording his marvellous commentaries.

April 16, 2003 Criterion in New York have just announced: Roger Ebert Commentary to Appear on Floating Weeds Esteemed film critic Roger Ebert will contribute audio commentary to Criterion's upcoming DVD release of Yasujiro Ozu's classic Floating Weeds (Ukigusa, 1959). Also included in this release will be Ozu's original, silent The Story of Floating Weeds (Ukigusa monogatari, 1934). The release of Criterion's Floating Weeds will follow the the celebration of Ozu's centennial at this year's New York Film Festival. NYFF 2003 is in October, so we're looking at a November release of this 2 x disc set and it's looking like the first Ozu out of the blocks from Criterion. Seems they're giving Ozu the royal treatment in his centenary year!

February 13, 2003 Stanford University is currently having an Ozu festival in Palo Alto, CA, every Thursday night for FREE. Late Spring, The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, and Tokyo Story have all been shown already, but Early Spring, Equinox Flower, Late Autumn and An Autumn Afternoon are being shown over the next few weeks. If you're lucky enough to see any of these free showings, please consider emailing ozuyasujiro.com a short review by clicking here!

January 15, 2003 Here it is... finally... [In 1998 this site was created to raise awareness of Ozu around the world and to try and persuade companies to release Ozu's films on the newly emerging DVD format. Nearly five long years on, it's fitting that in Ozu's Centennial year we can finally announce the massive news that we were all hoping for...] The peerless Criterion Collection (based in New York, USA) have today announced a tremendously strong commitment to celebrating Ozu in 2003/4. The press release is: Criterion Honors the Centennial of Ozu's Birth In honor of the 100-year anniversary of the birth of renowned Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu (b: December 12, 1903; d: December 12, 1963), Criterion has acquired several of his most highly-regarded films. Among the Ozu films slated for DVD release in 2003 and 2004 are such classics as Floating Weeds, Early Summer , and Tokyo Story . Look for the first of Criterion's upcoming Ozu titles in the fall of 2003. Look also for an Ozu theatrical retrospective, travelling the world in 2003 and appearing as part of the 2003 New York Film Festival (Oct. 5 - Nov. 6). More news as we get it. We know that many of you all around the world will be looking to the Criterion DVDs as the best English subtitled examples of Ozu's films on DVD and we hope to have more background information on these releases very soon.