Lady Snowblood
Gory revenge is raised to the level of visual poetry in Toshiya Fujita’s stunning Lady Snowblood, set in late nineteenth-century Japan. A major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill saga, this endlessly inventive film charts a young woman’s single-minded path of vengeance after her parents die at the hands of a gang of brutal criminals. Fujita creates a wildly entertaining action film of remarkable craft—an effortless balancing act between beauty and violence. Description adapted from Janus Films.
Director: Toshiya Fujita. Country: Japan. Released: 1973. Length: 97 min. Format: DCP. Language: Japanese with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Janus Films.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://nmaamatinees.eventive.org/schedule/6949664f20c97b81d9ac4631. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Captioning. Assisted listening devices.
Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 2:00 PM – 3:45 PM.
Mother of Snow Cranes
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In Person: Iiris Härmä director; Visa Koiso-Kanttila, producer
Co-presented with the Embassy of Finland
This documentary details the extraordinary life of Ellen Vuosalo, known as the “mother of snow cranes” for dedicating her life to protecting the Siberian cranes that winter in Iran. Vuosalo was born in Canada in 1931 to a family of Finnish immigrants. She later studied biology at UCLA, then married and started a family with an Iranian man. Her abusive husband fled with the children to Iran when she asked for a divorce. Vuosalo followed him to get her children back and settled in Iran, where she spent over five decades on conservation, ornithology, and local environmental initiatives. Iiris Härmä’s film is a stirring portrait of a strong, adventurous woman.
Director: Iiris Härmä. Country: Finland. Released: 2024. Length: 75 min. Format: DCP. Languages: English and Persian with English subtitles. Image courtesy of the Finnish Film Foundation.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://effnmaa2025.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Captioning. Assisted listening devices.
Saturday, March 21, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
What Does That Nature Say to You
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In the latest film from Hong Sang-soo (subject of our 2024 retrospective), a young Seoul poet named Donghwa travels to the countryside with his girlfriend Junhee to meet her parents for the first time. Donghwa becomes enchanted with the house and its beautiful environs, which were cultivated by Junhee’s father to provide serene surroundings for his mother when she was dying. He is also struck by the father’s devotion to nature, tradition, and filial duty. But as the hours drift by and the makgeolli flows, Donghwa’s tongue loosens and his anxieties begin to surface. As easygoing as a lazy afternoon spent with friends, Hong’s film is a genial ode to nature as inspiration.
Director: Hong Sang-soo. Country: Korea. Released: 2025. Length: 108 min. Format: DCP. Languages: Korean with English subtitles. Image courtesy of The Cinema Guild.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://effnmaa2025.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Captioning. Assisted listening devices.
Sunday, March 22, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Perfect Blue
New 4K Restoration!
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This iconic psychological thriller has frequently been hailed as one of the most important animated films of all time. In legendary anime director Satoshi Kon’s groundbreaking first feature, rising pop star Mima has quit singing to pursue a career as an actress and model, but her fans aren’t ready to see her go. After Mima takes on a recurring role on a popular TV show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima’s reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia. As her stalker closes in both in person and online, the threat they pose is more real than even Mima knows. Description adapted from GKIDS.
Intended for mature audiences.
Director: Satoshi Kon. Country: Japan. Released: 1997. Length: 81 min. Format: DCP. Language: Japanese with English subtitles. Image courtesy of GKIDS.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://animenmaa.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Captioning. Assisted listening devices.
Saturday, April 4, 2026, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM.
Ghost in the Shell
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Widely regarded as one of the greatest anime films of all time, Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 masterpiece feels eerily prescient of today’s digitally entwined world.
In the year 2029, the world is interconnected by a vast network that permeates every aspect of life. Cyborg Motoko Kusanagi of Tokyo’s security force investigates a powerful hacker who attacks that network, even tapping into human minds and erasing their memories. Through her investigation, Kusanagi is forced to ponder the very nature of her existence and question what is the “ghost”—her essence—in her cybernetic “shell”? Little does she know that the Puppet Master is seeking her as well. Oshii’s pioneering feature is both a gorgeous science fiction adventure and a philosophical rumination on the nature of consciousness.
Intended for mature audiences.
Director: Mamoru Oshii. Country: Japan. Released: 1995. Length: 83 min. Format: DCP. Language: Japanese with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Swank Motion Pictures.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://animenmaa.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, April 4, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM.
Scarlet
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Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the latest anime from Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Belle) features a time-traveling, sword-wielding heroine on a quest to avenge the death of her father, the king of Denmark. After her wicked great uncle poisons her, Scarlet finds herself in the “otherworld,” a land of the dead where she battles evil forces. There, she meets an idealistic young man from the future—our present day—who encourages her to break the cycle of vengeance and envision a future free of bitterness and rage. Shakespeare may be spinning in his grave at the liberties Hosoda takes with his play, but Scarlet stands on its own as a ravishing fantasy adventure.
Director: Mamoru Hosoda. Country: Japan. Released: 2025. Length: 111 min. Format: DCP. Language: Japanese with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://animenmaa.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices. Captioning.
Sunday, April 5, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Rashomon
A riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, Rashomon is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Four people give different accounts of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife, which director Akira Kurosawa presents with striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks. This eloquent masterwork and international sensation revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema—and a commanding new star by the name of Toshiro Mifune—to the Western world. Description courtesy of Janus Films.
Director: Akira Kurosawa. Country: Japan. Released: 1950. Length: 88 min. Format: DCP. Language: Japanese with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Janus Films.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://nmaamatinees.eventive.org/films/69496cc4335ee12f50d1cf66. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices. Captioning.
Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM.
Early Spring
In his first film after the commercial and critical success of Tokyo Story, director Yasujirō Ozu examines life in postwar Japan through the eyes of a young salaryman. Dissatisfied with career and marriage, office worker Shoji Sugiyama begins an affair with a flirtatious co-worker, and he and his wife grow estranged. The film adeptly depicts “the claustrophobia of office life” as “Ozu finds dramatic depths in quiet, ordinary lives” (The New York Times). Description adapted from Janus Films.
Director: Yasujirō Ozu. Country: Japan. Released: 1956. Length: 145 min. Format: DCP. Language: Japanese with English subtitles. Image courtesy of Janus Films.
Venue: Asian Art Museum, West Building. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://nmaamatinees.eventive.org/schedule/694972e549fb56a847faf44b. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Captioning. Assisted listening devices.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM.