Photo of Akio Jissoji
Photo of Akio Jissoji

Akio Jissoji

“I like things that don't have a purpose. I don't like films whose purpose is to move people or give them strength. All of my own films are just the opposite — they don't have any purpose.”

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    THIS TRANSIENT LIFE

    AKIO JISSOJI Japan, 1970

    One of the most successful experimental films in the history of Japanese cinema, this controversial New Wave classic from director Akio Jissôji is a marvel of stylistic ingenuity. Winner of Locarno’s Golden Leopard, This Transient Life is a truly transgressive examination of spirituality and desire.

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    MANDALA

    AKIO JISSOJI Japan, 1971

    The most provocative entry in Akio Jissôji’s “Buddhist Trilogy,” this experimental masterwork is a bracing examination of religious fanaticism. Stylistically radical and erotically charged, Mandala is a deeply philosophical, taboo-busting inquiry into man’s primal capacity for good and evil.

    POEM

    AKIO JISSOJI Japan, 1972

    Exploring the tensions between Eastern philosophy and Western modernity, this concluding part of Akio Jissôji’s spiritual trilogy is the New Wave iconoclast’s scathing critique of social power structures. An intimate, erotically-charged epic, Poem builds inexorably to its unforgettable final shot.

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