Part I: Silent to Postwar Cinema (Weeks 1-5, 1/21/26 to 2/22/26) From the experimental silent films of Teinosuke Kinugasa and the restrained dramas of Ozu and Naruse, to Mizoguchi’s humanist masterpieces and Kurosawa’s international breakthroughs, this section traces Japanese cinema from the Taishō period through the devastation of war and into the postwar golden age. We will explore how film reflected—and resisted—the rapidly changing social and political realities of Japan. Part II: The New Wave and Genre Cinema (Weeks 6-10, 2/23/26 to 4/05/26) This section examines the upheavals of the 1950s–70s, when the Japanese New Wave and underground cinema challenged tradition. We will study Ōshima’s radical politics, Imamura’s focus on the marginalized, and Suzuki’s flamboyant style, while also exploring cult genres like yakuza films, pink cinema, and kaijū movies. These works reveal an alternative history of Japanese cinema that is provocative, playful, and politically charged. Part III: Contemporary Japanese Cinema (Weeks 11-15, 4/06/26 to 5/15/26) From the 1980s to today, Japanese cinema diversified and gained new global audiences. We will look at Kitano’s crime dramas, Kore-eda’s intimate family portraits, Kawase’s poetic explorations, and the groundbreaking animation of Miyazaki, Oshii, and Kon. Alongside auteurs, we will study horror and transgressive cinema from directors like Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Takashi Miike, considering how Japanese film continues to reinvent itself in a global context.