To Be Takei
Thursday, April 3, 2014, 6:30PM - VIP Reception @ Empire, 7:30PM Film Screening @ ICA, followed by Post Party @ EmpireICA @ 100 Northern Ave., Boston, MA 02210
Empire Asian Restaurant & Lounge @ 55 Northern Ave., Boston, MA 02210
Tickets: $30 for film & post party, $50 for reception, film, and post party
Directed by Jennifer M. Kroot & Bill Weber
2014 | 90 mins | Documentary
George Takei doesn’t shy away from digging into his remarkable career and personal life in Jennifer Kroot’s delightful and incisive film To Be Takei. As a child forced into Japanese-American internment camps, the actor-turned-activist reveals the ways that racism affected him well into his early acting career, where he played stereotypical Asian stock characters in film and television shows. Even after landing the iconic role of Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, Takei’s sharp eye, coupled with his wicked sense of humor, continued to challenge the status quo well into the twenty-first century.
Now at 76, nine years after formally coming out of the closet, Takei and his husband, Brad, have become the poster couple for marriage equality, highlighting homophobia through television interviews and hilarious skits, many of which have gone viral and garnered widespread attention. Whether dishing on William Shatner or parodying the now-infamous comments made by Tim Hardaway, Takei proves time and again why his presence in popular culture remains as fresh and necessary as ever.—Sundance Film Festival
The only Japanese film at the festival this year is based on the real life love affair between two Japanese women, Yoshiko Yuasa and Yuriko Chujo (Miyamoto is her married name) during the Taishō & Shōwa periods (early 1920s-1930s).
Yoshiko and Yoriko
Original Title: 百合子、ダスヴィダーニヤ (Yuriko, dasuvidânya)Wednesday, April 9, 2014 @ 8:30pm
Bright Family Screening Room @ Paramount Center, 559 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02111
Tickets: $12
Directed by: Sachi Hamano (Wikipedia)
2011 | 102 mins | Narrative Feature
Japanese with English Subtitles
Read about Yoshiko & Yoriko and the making of the film, detailed synopsis
Based on a true story, Yoshiko and Yuriko relates the journey and great love affair of Yoshiko, who was a renowned translator of Russian literature and drama, and Yuriko, who was a feminist novelist and great activist of the post-war democratic literature movement. The two women shared a strong attraction to each other from their first meeting and enjoyed a powerful love affair. Yoshiko reveals that she’s an out lesbian, whilst Yuriko is married to a well-known scholar – a situation she can’t walk away from with ease.
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