JAPANESE CLASSICS - Featuring Kurosawa's 4K digital "RAN" and Kabuki-set Masterpiece "They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail," and Commemorative Screening of Films Starring Ken Takakura

TOKYO, Nov. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark 30 years since its original release, the 4K digital restoration of Akira Kurosawa's "RAN" was presented on October 25 as part of the Japan Classics section of the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF). Actor Tatsuya Nakadai, actress Mieko Harada, costume designer Emi Wada, who earned an Academy Award for costume design for her work on "RAN," Kurosawa's long-time assistant Teruyo Nogami, and assistant director Vittorio Dalle Ore were in attendance for a symposium after the screening. At this symposium, Nakadai recalled the filming of a climactic scene where he was to descend the staircase of a burning castle. "We spent one week just rehearsing. Master Kurosawa told me, 'Don't trip! If you make a mistake it'll cost me 400 million yen.' On the big day I kept chanting to myself, '400 million yen, 400 million yen'. Over the course of the filming, I got yelled at a lot and there were many hard times, but I think we did a good job," he reflected back with satisfaction.

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As part of the "Ken Takakura and His Era: Commemorative Screening" to honor the actor, who passed away last November, "A Distant Cry From Spring" was screened on October 25 at TIFF. Actress Chieko Baisho, who starred with Takakura in 1980, spoke about her experiences working with Takakura at a talk show after the film. The event was the first time Baisho had spoken publicly about Takakura since his death. "We'll never see an actor like Ken again. Director Yoji Yamada used to say the most wonderful actors are the least self-indulgent. People without self-confidence play petty games, but he did nothing of the sort. He was really someone that I looked up to as an actor and a person."

Also as part of "Ken Takakura and His Era," the 1978 film "Proof of Wildness" was screened on October 26, with Ryoko Nakano, Takakura's co-star for both this work and "HOT PURSUIT" (1976), making an appearance to present the film. When Nakano talked about "HOT PURSUIT," the first foreign film to be screened in China after the Cultural Revolution, which captivated 800 million viewers, she spoke with enthusiasm: "Society in China was in a state where reality could become just like a film. It certainly fit the minds of the people at that time. Being able to closely identify with the story filled people with the burning feeling that 'We can do our best, let's work together.' It's a film that gave energy to the Chinese people as they built their nation."

Lastly, at TIFF's Special Night Event on October 26, a new 35 mm print of Kurosawa's 1945 Kabuki-adapted masterpiece "THEY WHO STEP ON THE TIGER'S TAIL" was screened with a dynamic Kabuki performance by one of today's leading kabuki actors, Kataoka Ainousuke. He said at the photo session, "I am going to do the performance in 'Kanjincho', which is the story that tonight's Kurosawa film is based on. As an actor, it was a great honor tonight to perform at the event with Kurosawa's film in the festival."