The Ghost Cat & the Mysterious Shamisen UK Premiere in Leeds

Zipangu Fest brings to Leeds what is possibly the international premiere of one of Japan's few surviving pre-war horrors, a survivor of a genre that suppressed by the increasing state censorship of the period. Japan's first scream queen Sumiko Suzuki plays Mitsue, the possessive actress betrothed to apprentice shamisen player Seijiro. When his lost cat Kuro brings home a beautiful girl, dark jealous passions are invoked in Mitsue and the cat is the first to suffer at the end of her hairpin. Director Kiyohiko Ushihara employs an arsenal of dark double exposures, slow motion sequences and specially-developed lenses to convey this dark, uncanny tale.

Admission for both screenings in Leeds is £6.50/£5, and the venue is Vue in the Light 2 (22 The Light, The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 8TL).

For detailed information about this film, please see our 2011 film page for The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen. Booking is now available for two screenings in London at the main Zipangu Fest festival.

These screenings have been made possible by the National Film Centre in Tokyo, the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy, and Zipangu Fest.