We are so delighted to be hosting the US premiere of a rare 1981 film from documentary master Noriaki Tsuchimoto on 16mm. After a handful of groundbreaking films detailing the tragedy and suffering of the mercury-poisoned Japanese town of Minamata, Tsuchimoto revisits the subject of Minamata through the eyes of the celebrated husband-and-wife painting duo Iri and Toshi Maruki. Tsuchimoto follows the Marukis from their quaint homestead studio, where they paint slews of ghastly, psychotropic mural panels depicting the effects of Minamata disease, to the streets of Minamata, where they meet and paint portraits of several victims of mercury poisoning. On full display is Iri and Toshi’s riveting artistic process, combining exacting focused brushstrokes from Toshi with bouts of spontaneous ink-and-water slatherings from Iri, in one of the richer depictions of visual creation in documentary cinema.

This program is organized with independent programmer Max Carpenter who will be joined by filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda to lead a conversation with the audience following the film.

Detailing the tragedy and suffering of the mercury-poisoned Japanese town of Minamata, Tsuchimoto revisits the subject of Minamata through the eyes of the celebrated husband-and-wife painting duo Iri and Toshi Maruki. Tsuchimoto follows the Marukis from their quaint homestead studio, where they paint slews of ghastly, psychotropic mural panels depicting the effects of Minamata disease, to the streets of Minamata, where they meet and paint portraits of several victims of mercury poisoning. On full display is Iri and Toshi’s riveting artistic process, combining exacting focused brushstrokes from Toshi with bouts of spontaneous ink-and-water slatherings from Iri, in one of the richer depictions of visual creation in documentary cinema.

Max Carpenter is a film curator, writer and crossword constructor living in Inwood. Series programmed by him have screened at the Museum of the Moving Image, the Harvard Film Archive, the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery and AFI Silver, and he has worked extensively on other programs with the Museum of the Moving Image and MoMA. Most recently Max presented “No Joke: Absurd Comedy as Political Reality” at the Museum of the Moving Image, a six-week exploration of comedy in the shadow of fascism.

Kazuhiro Soda is a Peabody Award winning filmmaker. He practices an observational method of documentary filmmaking based on his own “Ten Commandments” which prohibits him from doing pre-shoot research or writing a synopsis before filming. He imposes these rules on himself in order to minimize preconceptions and to be able to make unexpected discoveries while filming and editing.

His debut feature documentary “Campaign” (2007) was invited to many prestigious festivals such as Berlinale and was aired in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world. It won the Peabody Award in the U.S. “Mental” (2008) won the Best Documentary Award at the Busan International Film Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival. “Peace” (2010), the opening film of DMZ Documentary Festival, won the Best Documentary Award at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Tokyo Filmex. “Theatre 1 and 2” (2012) won the Young Juries Prize at the Festival des 3 Continents. “Campaign 2” (2013) has been invited to such festivals as Cinema du Reel, Hong Kong International Film Festival, and MoMA Documentary Fortnight. “Oyster Factory” (2015) premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival and won the audience award at the Kinotayo Film Festival.

Soda’s latest film “Inland Sea” (2018) is invited to Berlinale and will be released in Japan in April 2018. “The Big House” (2018) will be released in June 2018. He is currently working on “Second Life”.

He is also the author of seven books published in Japan. He taught at the University of Michigan as a visiting