Woman in the Dunes
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara • 1964 • Japan
Starring Eiji Okada, Kyoko Kishida
One of the 1960s’ great international art-house sensations, WOMAN IN THE DUNES (SUNA NO ONNA) was for many the grand unveiling of the surreal, idiosyncratic world of Hiroshi Teshigahara. Eiji Okada plays an amateur entomologist who has left Tokyo to study an unclassified species of beetle found in a vast desert. When he misses his bus back to civilization, he is persuaded to spend the night with a young widow (Kyoko Kishida) in her hut at the bottom of a sand dune. What results is one of cinema’s most unnerving and palpably erotic battles of the sexes, as well as a nightmarish depiction of everyday life as a Sisyphean struggle—an achievement that garnered Teshigahara an Academy Award nomination for best director.
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Woman in the Dunes
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara • 1964 • Japan
Starring Eiji Okada, Kyoko KishidaOne of the 1960s’ great international art-house sensations, WOMAN IN THE DUNES (SUNA NO ONNA) was for many the grand unveiling of the surreal, idiosyncratic world of Hiroshi Teshigahara. Eiji Okada plays an amateur...
Extras
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WOMAN IN THE DUNES Video Essay
The following video essay about WOMAN IN THE DUNES, by James Quandt of the Cinematheque Ontario (now TIFF Cinematheque), was recorded in 2007.
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Teshigahara and Abe
The following documentary, detailing the working relationship between director Hiroshi Teshigahara and writer Kobo Abe, features interviews with critics and a number of the filmmaker’s associates and friends, including film programmer and professor Richard Peña, Japanese-film scholars Donald Rich...
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Ikebana
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara • 1957 • Japan
The Sogetsu School of Ikebana, now a center for modern sculpture and pottery, was originally renowned for its instruction in the art of flower arranging. In this documentary, Hiroshi Teshigahara presents the Sogetsu School and its founder and grand ...
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Tokyo 1958
Hiroshi Teshigahara created TOKYO 1958 with the collaboration of eight other filmmakers: Susumu Hani, Zenzo Matsuyama, Yoshiro Kawazu, Kyushiro Kusakabe, Kanzaburo Mushanokoji, Sadamu Maruo, Ryuichiro Sakisaka, and Masahiro Ogi.
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Ako
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara • 1964 • Japan
Depicting one night in the life of a young girl and her rowdy friends, Hiroshi Teshigahara’s AKO—also known as WHITE MORNING—was part of an omnibus film titled LA FLEUR DE L’ÂGE OU LES ADOLESCENTES, commissioned by the National Film Board of Canada.
