Kawamoto the Puppet Master: Screening Details

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    Demons, Poets & Priests PG

    Dir: Kihachiro Kawamoto, 1hr 30 mins, Subtitled

    Born in 1925, Kihachiro Kawamoto is considered a living treasure in his home country, with over thirty years spent creating some of the world’s most sublime and atmospheric stop motion animation. Having studied in Prague under Czech animator Jiri Trnka, who encouraged him to draw on his own country's rich cultural heritage, Kawamoto returned to Japan to make a series of painstakingly crafted masterpieces with their roots in Japanese legends and the theatrical forms of Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku theatre.

    This programme features some of his finest short films, such as the haunting ghost story The Demon (Oni, 1970) and foreign myths and fairytales in To Shoot Without Shooting (1988), adapted from a tale set in ancient China.

    Self Portrait

    1988, 1'30 mins

    An introduction to Kihachiro Kawamoto.

    The Demon (Oni)

    1970, 8 mins

    Inspired by a ghost story from the eleventh-century anthology of Japanese myths and legends Konjaku monogatari, The Demon tells the story of two hunters who live with their aged mother. With its plain black backdrops and minimalist designs, it draws upon the pared-down style of traditional Bunraku puppet presentations and the masked Noh theatre, to chilling effect.

    House of Flame (Kataku)

    1979, 19 mins

    Based on the Noh play Motomezuka- the Seeker’s Mound, this tells the story of a young woman named Unai-Otome who is loved by two men. Not knowing which to choose, in anguish, she chose death. But although her intentions were pure, not even the grave brought the respite she longed for from her earthly dilemma.

    To Shoot Without Shooting (Fusha no sha)

    1988, 25 mins

    Based on the story Meijin-den by Atsushi Nakajima (1909-1942), this work is set in ancient China telling the tale of a young Chinese archer’s trials to reach the pinnacle of his field. Made at the end of the Cold War, it’s not hard to detect the pacifist message in this beautifully rendered fable.

    Briar-Rose, or the Sleeping Beauty (Ibarahime mata manemurihime)

    1990, 22 mins

    For this exquisite yet unconventional fairytale based on a story written by Japan’s top screen siren of the 60s Kyoko Kishida, Kawamoto returned to Trnka’s animation studio in Prague. A young princess reaches her fifteenth birthday and discovers a diary written by her mother when she was the same age, telling of a secret paramour who dwelt deep in the forest surrounding the palace. Entering the woods during a heavy rain storm, the princess has a life-changing encounter.

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