Prehistory of the Partisans

Introduced by filmmaker John Gianvito, whose 2010 film Vapor Trail (Clark) was dedicated to Tsuchimoto’s memory

Dir. Noriaki Tsuchimoto. 1969, 120 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles. In 1969, Tsuchimoto linked up with student demonstrators who had barricaded themselves inside the offices of Kyodai University in Kyoto, mostly in protest of the renewal of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. Funded by Ogawa Productions and shot on 16mm, Prehistory of the Partisans is a remarkably lived-in and focused document of the era of student revolutions that swept Japan and the world toward the end of the 1960s. As a former communist guerrilla, Tsuchimoto took a seasoned long view of the film’s often violent conflicts: “Where will they go from here?” he posed rhetorically in a later interview. “I wanted to show that future space.”

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.