The Japan Film Program is organized by the Baltimore-Kawasaki Sister City Committee (BKSCC) in partnership with Towson University College of Fine Arts and Communication (COFAC) Dean’s Office , along with the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University and its Director, Joanna Pecore. Films are hosted by and from the private collection of Reed Hessler, longtime host on WBJC.
Unless otherwise noted, all film screenings are at 1pm ET and take place at the Towson University Center for the Arts, Art Lecture Hall, Room 2032, 7700 Osler Drive, Towson, MD 21204 .
Screenings are free but registration is required. To register, find the film on the Baltimore-Kawasaki Committee’s film program webpage and click the RSVP link next to the film.
Spring Semester program
Saturday, January 17, 2026 at 1pm
Spring Dreams
春の夢 Haru no Yume
This 1960 satirical comedy explores class, greed, love and selfishness. A sweet potato vendor has a stroke in the home of the wealthy and dysfunctional Okudaira family. While he recuperates there, “well-wishers” from his tenement house drop in to visit with ulterior motives. (color) Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. 126 minutes.
To register, go to the film program webpage and click the RSVP link next to the film.
Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 1pm
The Ceremony
儀式 Gishiki
Funerals without bodies. Burials without funerals. Marriages without brides. This 1971 epic drama revolves around twenty-five years of weddings, funerals, and incest of the Sakurada clan and their intergenerational conflicts which mirror Japan’s post-war fall from grace. (color) Directed by Nagisa Oshima. 123 minutes.
To register, go to the film program webpage and click the RSVP link next to the film.
Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 1pm
Humanity and Paper Balloons
人情紙風船 Ninjo Kami Fusen
This bold, 1937 historical anti-military melodrama is a gem of Japanese cinema. While following Edo-era slum residents—debilitated samurai, peasants, and petty merchants—and their struggles to survive, it exposes the hypocrisy and cruelty of high society. (black and white) Directed by Sadao Yamanaka. 82 minutes.
To register, go to the film program webpage and click the RSVP link next to the film.
Saturday, July 18, 2026 at 1pm
Like Father Like Son
そして父になる Soshite Chichi ni Naru
A ten-minute standing ovation followed the premiere of Like Father Like Son at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Two couples—from different classes and with contrasting parenting styles—discover that their six-year-old sons were switched at birth and embark on journeys of soul-searching, impossible decisions, and coming to terms with the meaning of family. (color) Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. 120 minutes.
To register, go to the film program webpage and click the RSVP link next to the film.
