Paprika

press release:

SAT., 9/24, 7 p.m. PAPRIKA: Japan | 2006 | 35mm | 90 min. | Japanese with English subtitles

Director: Satoshi Kon

Doctor Atsuko Chiba is a top research psychologist practicing a revolutionary new treatment called dream therapy. Using a mysterious device called the DC Mini, Chiba is able to enter her patient’s dreams and observe under the guise of her alter-ego Paprika. When the DC Mini is stolen, it is up to Chiba and her team of researchers to investigate all corners of reality and the dream world in order to find the culprit. Director Satoshi Kon’s fourth and final film before his death in 2010, Paprika is widely considered his most unique and creative feature.

Heroines of Anime series: Spanning multiple filmmakers, genres, and decades, this series showcases several of the most unforgettable female lead roles in Japanese animated cinema. From Motoko Kusanagi’s philosophical exploration of sexuality and gender identity in Ghost in the Shell to Nausciaä’s difficult wartime decisions as princess in Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, these leading women defy genre conventions in complex, strong-willed, and autonomous roles. This series is also home to the Wisconsin premiere of Eiichi Yamamoto’s Belladonna of Sadness, a 1973 film which first screened at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival but has remained unavailable in the United States until a 4K digital restoration was completed in 2015. An erotic spectacle of breathtaking watercolor visuals accompanied by a 1970s psych rock soundtrack, this unseen masterpiece is a Japanese animated movie like no other. Heroines of Anime was curated by UW student and WUD Film programmer James LaPierre with the Cinematheque’s Jim Healy.