The Exquisite Short Films of Kihachiro Kawamoto

Japanese animator Kihachiro Kawamoto studied under renowned filmmaker Jiri Trnka before striking out to produce his own mesmerizing animated shorts. Steeped in ancient traditions such as Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku, as well as the plots of ancient legends and contemporary works, the seven films presented are "The Breaking of Branches Is Forbidden" (1968), "An Anthropo-Cynical Farce" (1970), "The Demon" (1972), "The Trip" (1973), "A Poet's Life" (1974), "Dojoji Temple" (1976), and "House of Flames" (1979). 99 min. total. Soundtrack: Japanese; Subtitles: English. In Japanese with English subtitles.