Akira Kurosawa’s hugely influential 1950 historical crime drama Rashomon is back in cinemas as part of a BFI celebration of Kurosawa.
Winner of the top prize at the 1952 Venice Film Festival and an Honorary Academy Award the same year, the film concerns a woodcutter who witnesses a horrific series of events an ambush, the rape of a noble woman and the subsequent murder of her samurai husband by a bandit. Yet, in the recounting of the incidents at the trial, differing versions come from all involved, thus raising questions about the reliability of subjective ‘truth’.
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Running time 88 mins
Japanese with English subtitles
Studio 74 is currently preparing for the 2023 return of the Japanese Touring Programme, a specially curated season of films with a carefully chosen theme to highlight trends in Japanese cinema and showcase the versatility and uniqueness displayed by its filmmakers.
SHOWING TIMES
Sat 28 Jan: 3pm
Thu 02 Feb: 5.40pm
Cost: £8 (£5 student/under 25)
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: The Inspiration
Rashomon was inspired by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s short stories 'Rashōmon' and 'In a Bamboo Grove'. Regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story", Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him.
Both 'Rashōmon' and 'In a Bamboo Grove' are included in the four Ryūnosuke Akutagawa collections below, and David Peace’s Patient X is a ‘novel of tales’ inpsired by Akutagawa's stories, essays and letters.
Shop through Bookshop.org (click the images for links to each book) or order through your local independent bookshop - check out all the Devon indies here!
Accessibility Statement: There is a steep slope from the street leading to the main entrance and a flight of stairs up to our front door. More level access is possible by approaching from Exeter Central Library on Castle street. Step-free access to the building is available via a ramped entrance on the side of the building. The side entrance is equipped with automatic doors.
All ground floor spaces are fully accessible with a mix of level flooring and gentle ramps. Level access to accessible toilets is available on all floors. Please ask Box Office for the radar key if needed. We have gender neutral toilets available in Studio 74 and on the first floor.
In the main auditorium and Studio 74 we have raked seating which has steps on either side. The seats have arms. Studio 74 Seat Dimensions; Seat: 17.5" Wide, 18.5" Long (Depth) Back: 19" Wide, 22" Long (Height). If you are a wheelchair user we have removable seats or approriate spaces available in all event spaces to accommodate this.GUIDE DOGS
Guide / Hearing / Assistance Dogs are welcome. If you wish to take your dog into the performance, please let us know when booking your ticket so that we can arrange an adjacent seat.
Patrons with disabilities may also bring a companion free of charge to all Exeter Phoenix promoted events, and most externally promoted events taking place in the venue. Please call 01392 667080 or email our box office team.
SUBTITLED SCREENINGS
A selection of our films are caption subtitled. Caption subtitling is a service that makes our film programme accessible to our d/Deaf and hearing-impaired customers by displaying additional auditory information on the screen. These can be found here. Our film programme also contains many films subtitled into English from other languages. These may also be suitable for our Deaf/deaf and hearing-impaired customers, but won't include additional descriptions of sounds. These can be found here.
AUDIO DESCRIBED SCREENINGS
Each season, an audio description track will be available for a selection of our films. Audio description is a service for partially sighted or blind people, and is similar to listening to a cricket or football match on the radio – the action is described to you. These can be found here.
SENSORY NOTES
The cafe bar plays low level recorded music during the day, with moderately bright lighting. During the evening in the cafe bar the music is louder and the lighting is lower. The cafe bar can become busy at various times which makes it louder.
Events in the auditorium vary depending on what is showing, there will be signage if there is going to be haze, flashing lights or strobe.
The building can be busy with musltiple events happening at the same time, if during your visit you feel you need a quieter space please ask the duty manager who will try to accomodate this where possible.