The Lovers' Exile (free film screening + Q&A)

The Lovers’ Exile

冥途の飛脚

Saturday, February 21, 6:30 PM (ET)

Doors open 6:00 PM | Film Screening | In-Person |

Directed by Marty Gross • 1980 • 88 minutes • Presented in Japanese with English subtitles

Bunraku combines the arts of puppetry, joruri dramatic recitation, and musical accompaniment of the samisen. Each puppet is manipulated by three handlers; the resulting ensemble effort of puppeteers and musicians creates not only a sense of heightened realism, but also a dreamlike delicacy and complexity of movement. In 2003, UNESCO proclaimed Bunraku a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.”

The Lovers’ Exile is an adaptation of MEIDO NO HIKYAKU by classic Japanese dramatist CHIKAMATSU Monzaemon (1673-1724). The story, one of Chikamatsu’s domestic tragedies, recounts the love between a penniless clerk and an indentured prostitute.

The Lovers’ Exile is performed entirely by the Bunraku Ensemble of Osaka, widely considered the most sophisticated puppet theatre in the world. The Bunraku Theatre Ensemble, and numerous of its players have been declared Living National Treasures of Japan. The Lovers’ Exile is the only filmed adaptation of a classic Bunraku performance.

©Marty Gross Film Productions Inc.

After the screening, director Marty Gross, the recipient of , will join us for a talk on his filmmaking career and his work on preserving Japanese arts and cultural heritage.

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Host or Publisher The Japan Foundation, Toronto