'Eternal Japan' Cinema Cycle - The films of Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa at TAGV

The Gil Vicente Academic Theatre (TAGV), in collaboration with Medeia Filmes, revisits the work of two great masters of Japanese cinema with screenings of their most famous films. Kenji Mizoguchi's 'Shin Heike Monogatari/The Sacrilegious Hero,' in a restored digital copy, will be showcased 50 years after its premiere in Portugal, where it faced censorship. Meanwhile, Akira Kurosawa, although younger, opened the door to one of the world's richest cinematographies to the West when he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1951.

Mizoguchi won the Silver Lion two years later, marking the beginning of his huge cult following. He became one of the great masters of this vast cinematography, igniting what Serge Daney described as a 'devouring passion.' Considered one of the leading directors of the Nouvelle Vague, Jean-Luc Godard hailed him as 'the best Japanese director' and one of the best directors in the world. Mizoguchi's acclaim reached new heights in 1958 when Cahiers du Cinéma included 'The Tales' in its list of the best films of all time.

Kurosawa, perhaps the most popular director in the West, is a mixture of epic spectacle and adventure, with a "touch of the Japanese past", albeit with heterogeneous references, and an introspective, more intimate side, especially in his later works. He was adored by directors such as Bergman or Fellini, or the Americans John Ford, Coppola, Scorsese or Spielberg.