Visit the UCLA Film & Television Archive website to learn more about upcoming screenings and events.

Free admission. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.

Screening 1 of 2

Heaven Is Still Far Away

Year: 2016
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Runtime: 38 min.
Digital. Color

Ever a student of film theory, Ryusuke Hamaguchi credits his graduate work with Kiyoshi Kurosawa for challenging him to grapple with the essential contradiction of cinema: using a recording device to create fiction. Understanding this paradox, Hamaguchi has said, “is what directing is all about.” Curiously there’s a touch of Hirokazu Koreeda in this short about a film student making a documentary about people who knew her deceased sister, only to discover one of her subjects, a detached young man, can speak with her ghost. In Hamaguchi’s script and framing, the nature of the afterlife becomes enmeshed with the nature of cinema.—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm

Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Screenwriter: Ryusuke Hamaguchi. With: Nao Okabe, An Ogawa, Hyunri.

Screening 2 of 2

I Love Thee For Good

Year: 2009
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Runtime: 58 min.
Digital. Color.

On the morning they’re supposed to get married, Seichi (Hikohiko Sugiyama) has woken up with a hangover from his bachelor party while Eiko (Aoba Kawa) wonders if now is the time to tell him about her affair. Meanwhile, across town, her ex-boyfriend, a nude model, decides he needs to stop the whole thing. As they each make their way to the event, Hamaguchi orchestrates an extended cross-cutting sequence that builds anticipation while building a multifaceted portrait of a generation at the crossroads between holding on to their ideals and surrendering to practicality.—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm

Director/Screenwriter: Ryusuke Hamaguchi. With: Aoba Kawai. Hikohiko Sugiyama, Nao Okabe.