Part of Platform 2016: A Body in Places

This Wednesday night film series is co-presented by Danspace Project and Anthology Film Archives and curated by Eiko, who addresses “how humans contribute to and survive the characteristics of places.” Tickets are available at Anthology’s box office on the day of the show only. The box office opens 30 minutes before the first show of the day. There are no advance ticket sales.

PROGRAM 1: A BODY IN MOURNING
I grew up in post-war Japan, devouring the works of those who experienced WWII. Popular entertainment, from movies to manga, were also suffused with memories of the War. Without experiencing the War, our generation were influenced by the grotesqueness of massive violence. Soon after 9/11, I began thinking about how dying in mass violence is different from dying from a disease or an accident. Why does it matter how we die? Then I realized that, however painful the process of dying, one who dies a personal death at least dies his or her own death. A personal death receives personal attention. Dying in the midst of massive violence means dying with great upset of many. Massive violence deprives a person his or her own personal death. –Eiko

Kon Ichikawa
THE BURMESE HARP
1956, 116 min, 16mm, b&w. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Mizushima, the protagonist of THE BURMESE HARP witnesses countless corpses as he wanders through Burma. Fear, remorse, and hesitation gradually transform this survivor into a mourner. Wishing to attend and bury the dead, he ultimately tells himself, “I cannot return to Japan.” Film director Ichikawa described THE BURMESE HARP as the first film he felt a profound need to make. –Eiko

With:
Eiko & Koma and James Byrne UNDERTOW 1988, 7 min, 16mm b&w
UNDERTOW is a work choreographed for the camera in collaboration with video artist James Byrne. Eiko & Koma’s two naked bodies float in the space of an existential limbo. –Eiko

More info:
anthologyfilmarchives.org
eikoandkoma.org