Arts & Entertainment:

Japanese Cinema Classics at Pacific Film Archive

Pacific Film Archive is presenting “Cinema Japan,” a series of two dozen classic Japanese films as a tribute to Kashiko Kawakita, who along with her husband under the auspices of the Kashiko Film Institute, played a major role in bringing Japanese cinema to the attention of the western world.

The series spotlights the post-World War II work of eight internationally acclaimed directors: Akira Kurosawa, Kon Ichikawa, Kaneto Shindo, Seijun Suzuki, Sumiko Haneda, Yoji Yamada, Shohei Imamura and Nagisa Oshima. Some of the films presented here—such as Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949) and Rashomon (1950) and Imamura’s Vengeance Is Mine (1979) and Intentions of Murder (1964)—are well known and readily accessible on home video. But many—including nearly all of the extraordinary films of Kon Ichikawa—have not been released on DVD, and thus this series provides a rare opportunity to see these works.

“Cinema Japan” shows Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays through Dec. 17 at Pacific Film Archive. 2575 Bancroft Way. www.bampfa.berkeley/edu.