This interdisciplinary presentation “Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Cinematic Poetics” will provide a fresh look at the international success of the cinema of noted contemporary Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu, from his early documentaries (during the 1990s) through his recent international co-productions and beyond (the 2020s). Kore-eda has provided as a rich body of work set in Japan as well as serving as a pioneer in making films in France and Korea. He is the only Japanese film artist to win the coveted Donostia Award (San Sebastián Film Festival, Spain, 2018) for lifetime achievement. His film Shoplifters won the Best Film Award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Kore-eda has also promoted the careers of several up-and-coming female directors in Japan. His integrity and creative brilliance make him a key to the reception of Japanese cinema worldwide. The talk will highlight the evolution of Kore-eda’s aesthetics and style and explore often overlooked themes from the time of his (undistributed) documentaries up to Monster (2023).
Linda Ehrlich is an emerita professor at Case Western Reserve University, well-known for her groundbreaking transnational film scholarship. She is the author of The Films of Kore-Eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave, 2019), and she has recorded full-length commentaries on two DVDs of Kore-eda films: Maborosi (Milestone Film and Video, 2018) and After Life (Criterion Collection, 2021). Her expertise will benefit students and scholars of film and media studies who do not have expertise in East Asia, while East Asian Studies students will be able to learn from a visual culture expert. During the Fall 2023 semester, Dr. Ehrlich taught an online course, Introduction to Japanese Cinema, for Miami University.
Linda C. Ehrlich—writer, teacher, editor–has published extensively about world cinema and about traditional theatre in such journals as Film Quarterly, Cinema Journal, Senses of Cinema, Film Criticism, Ethnomusicology, Cinema Scope, Framework and Journal of Religion and Film, among others. Cinematic Landscapes, her first book (co-edited with David Desser), is an anthology of essays on the interface between the visual arts and cinemas of China and Japan (University of Texas Press, 1994; reprint in 2008). Her second edited book, The Cinema of Víctor Erice: An Open Window, appeared in the Scarecrow Press Filmmakers’ Series (#72) in 2000 (with an expanded paperback edition in 2007). Her collection of prose poetry on the cinema, Cinematic Reveries: Gestures, Stillness, Water, was published by Peter Lang Publishers. She also edited and published the memoir of Juan Luis Buñuel, sculptor and eldest son of famed director Luis Buñuel. In addition, she has published poetry and one book for young readers. Her taped commentary on The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena, dir. Víctor Erice) appears on the Criterion DVD of that film.
Dr. Ehrlich has taught at Duke University, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Tennessee/Knoxville, on two Semester-at-Sea voyages, and as a Fulbright Specialist. She teaches courses in Asian Studies, Film Studies, and traditional Asian theatre.
