Films by the Japanese director to screen will include Sailor Suit And Machine Gun and Wait And See.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is hosting a retrospective of Japanese director Shinji Somai’s work as part of its 2012 programme.
Somai’s films span the 1980s and 90s and are considered to be an ongoing source of inspiration for current Japanese film-makers. Somai died in 2001.
Films to screen at the EIFF will include Sailor Suit And Machine Gun (1981), P.P Rider (1983), The Catch (1983), Typhoon Club (1985), Moving (1993), The Friends (1994) and Wait And See (1998), with further titles still to be announced.
The retrospective is being put together in collaboration with Kanako Hayashi, director of Tokyo Filmex, which ran its own Somai retrospective last year.
It will include several European premieres.
Chris Fujiwara, EIFF’s new artistic director who was previously based in Japan, said: “Shinji Somai is one of the most personal and original Japanese filmmakers, and a master whose work has been almost completely neglected outside Japan. Just over ten years after his passing, I believe the time is right for Somai. Audiences and critics will be amazed by what they discover in this body of work, which I’m delighted to bring to the UK.”
The 66th edition of the EIFF runs from June 20 to July 1.
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