While we are waiting for distributors to release their best new films for this year’s award season, it’s a good time to reach into the vaults and share little known gems of world cinema. One of those is Kaneto Shindo’s Kuroneko (aka Black Cat), a masterpiece of Japanese ghost story tradition and the golden age of Japanese cinema of the 1960 and 1970’s. We will screen a new 2K copy, exquisitely restored by Criterion Pictures. I fell in love with Japanese ghost stories and classic samurai cinema as a teen and after seeing Kuroneko, you may too. We may feature a special short film before the main event.

In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with his own personal demons as well. Both a chilling ghost story and a meditation on the nature of war and social hypocrisy, Kuroneko mixes stunning visuals, an evocative score, and influences from traditional Japanese theater to create an atmospheric, haunting, and emotionally devastating masterpiece.

Starring Nobuko Otowa, Shindo’s famous actress and wife. The director was nominated for the Cannes Palme d’Or in 1968.

99 minutes, b/w with English subtitles.