THEATER AND FILM / Herman Wong : Film Festival Out to Prove That Japanese Movies Are More Than Just Sword Plays

Orange County moviegoers get a rare treat this month: a festival of Japanese films, nearly all of them being screened here for the first time.

Actually, the five-film series, sponsored by the Orange County Japanese American Council and the Historical and Cultural Foundation of Orange County, is the first extended series of any Japanese films ever presented here. The films will be shown Sunday mornings at the Edwards South Coast Plaza Theatres in Costa Mesa.

Included is a masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa, Japan’s best-known director in the West. “Rashomon” (1950) will be shown this Sunday (like all the screenings, at 11 a.m.). A powerful, mystifying medieval tale, “Rashomon” catapulted Kurosawa to world fame and introduced many Western audiences to Japanese film.

Also represented is Kon Ichikawa, another world-class master whose exquisite “The Makioka Sisters” (1983), about an aristocratic family in pre-World War II Japan, will be seen June 5 in the series’ final program.

The others:

“Izu Dancer” (1974), directed by Katsumi Nishikawa, is about a doomed romance between a student and a dancer in the 1920s. It will be shown May 15.

“An Ocean to Cross” (1980), directed by Kei Kumai, is an epic that tells of a medieval, Homer-like odyssey to bring back Buddhist missionaries from China. It will be shown May 29.

Yoichi Maeda’s “Botchan” (1977), a turn-of-the-century saga of a beleaguered schoolteacher, opened the series April 24. There will be no screenings May 8 and 22.

The Japanese American Council has been among the most active ethnic groups in Orange County in terms of showcasing cultural heritage and arts. It has mounted a photo-history exhibit of Japanese immigrants to Orange County and Southern California, has sponsored touring performers from Japan, and has published an oral history of Orange County’s Japanese agricultural and mercantile pioneers.

One purpose of this first-time film series, according to council president Jim Kanno and other leaders, is to counter the “standard samurai” images in the West of Japanese movies.

“The misconception is that Japanese film is only about swordplay and all that,” said Art Hansen, a professor of history at Cal State Fullerton and director of the council’s oral history project. “This series is aimed at introducing more Americans to the great art and diversity of the Japanese film.”

Lecturers in the series (besides Hansen, who spoke at the “Botchan” program last Sunday) include cinema scholars Anne Friedberg of UC Irvine, who will speak on “Rashomon” this Sunday, and and Allan Casebier of USC who will speak on “Izu Dancer” May 15.

Though the festival organizers note that the five films aren’t connected by plot lines or stylistic motifs, all are based on classic works by Japanese writers, including including Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata (“Izu Dancer”), Junichiro Tanizaki (“The Makioka Sisters”) and Ryunosuke Akutagawa (“Rashomon”).

The Edwards South Coast Plaza Theatres are at 3410 Bristol St. in Costa Mesa. Screenings are Sunday mornings at 11. Tickets: $6. Information: (714) 250-1957.)