TIFF is pleased to announce the full line-up for its Japanese Classics section. Globally acclaimed masterpieces by Japanese maestros will be screened at the 30th TIFF in digitally restored versions, including Kagemusha (4K Digitally Restored Version) by Akira Kurosawa, winner of many prizes, including the Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix; Sansho the Bailiff (4K Digitally Restored Version) by Kenji Mizoguchi, winner of the Venice Film Festival Silver Lion; and Shohei Imamura’s The Ballad of Narayama (Digitally Restored Version), which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
 
KAGEMUSHA (4K Digitally Restored Version)

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu, Hideji Otaki, Daisuke Ryu, Masayuki Yui, Kaori Momoi, Mitsuko Baisho
(1980/180 min./Japan)
In Japan’s Warring States period, warlord Shingen Takeda orders his death to be kept secret for three years. A lookalike must assume Shingen’s identity for the stability of the clan.
 
SANSHO THE BAILIFF (4K Digitally Restored Version)

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyoko Kagawa, Eitaro Shindo
(1954/126 min./Japan)
Set in the Heian period, the film follows two aristocratic children who are sold into slavery. Zushio and Anju grow up in a slave camp administered by a cruel bailiff named Sansho. Finally, they escape and eventually, Zushio is able to help end the practice of slavery.
 
A global masterpiece, and winner of the Silver Lion and Pasinetti Award at the 15th Venice Film Festival. Restored by KADOKAWA and the Film Foundation chaired by Martin Scorsese.

 
THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (Digitally Restored Version)

Director: Shohei Imamura
Starring: Ken Ogata, Sumiko Sakamoto, Tonpei Hidari, Norihei Miki, Ryutaro Tatsumi, Takejo Aki
(1983/131 min./Japan)
A drama of the soul that gets to the essence of universal human themes like life and death, the film is set in a rural village in the 19th century, where elders are taken to the mountains to die at age 70. Orin is 69 and in good health, but she spends her last year making improvements, before her beloved son takes her on her final journey.