* This screening will be preceded by an introduction from the The Japan Foundation, Toronto to discuss the life and career of the films subject Yukio Mishima and production designer Eiko Ishioka.

* A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Canada Council For Refugees.

Second in our “Neon Dreams International” season, we’re teaming up with Japan Foundation to introduce Paul Schrader’s dissection of the life of author, imperialist, actor, director, bodybuilder, and queer icon Yukio Mishima, whose work broke traditional styles of aesthetics with an explicit focus on sexuality, death, and political radicalism.

“It's fetishistic, lyrical, narcissistic and, at key moments, borderline berserk. In other words, the movie captures its subject to a tee.”
-David Fear, Time Out

Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, this unconventional biopic basks in eye-popping sets courtesy of production designer Eiko Ishioka, a brilliant colour pallette courtesy of cinematographer John Bailey, and a beautifully haunting score by Philip Glass (all of whom won the award for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival). Co-written by Paul with his brother Leonard Schrader, who spent over a decade securing the rights to Mishima’s story while living in Japan, Mishima is “one of the most gorgeous and sophisticated portraits of an artist ever put on film” (Michael Sragow, The New Yorker).

This screening and others are made possible thanks to our wonderful sponsor Hollywood Suite. As always this will be a fully licensed event featuring a fabulous on-screen pre-show. Be sure to arrive early!