Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2010

PHOTO ©MAGIC HOUR FILMS

The Oscar-nominated documentary Burma VJ (2008; pictured) is now screening at Shibuya’s Image Forum (2-10-2 Shibuya; www.imageforum.co.jp). Directed by Anders Østergaard, the film documents the 2007 demonstrations against military rule in Myanmar, during which Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai was killed. Due to strict censorship, footage was shot by underground reporters known as “video journalists,” or VJs, on handheld cameras, then smuggled out of the country into Thailand, where it was then sent on to Oslo for editing

Also at Image Forum is a retrospective of the ’60s films of Jerzy Skolimowski. The director attended the prestigious Polish Film School with Andrej Wajda and Krzysztof Kieslowski and penned Roman Polanski’s debut film Knife in the Water (1962). The four films in the series are marked by innovative black-and-white cinematography and clever plots centering on a small number of characters

Ikebukuro cinema Shin-Bungeiza (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro; www.shin-bungeiza.com) will hold an all-night tribute to French New Wave director Eric Rohmer, who passed away in January at the age of 89. Four films will be screened on May 22, including Les Rendez-vous de Paris (1995), a collection of three episodes of lovers’ reunions in the City of Lights.