This course explores the Japanese New Wave, a radical and transformative period in Japanese cinema spanning roughly from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. Emerging at a moment of political unrest, social upheaval, and industrial crisis, the Japanese New Wave saw a generation of filmmakers challenge the conventions of studio filmmaking, traditional aesthetics, and dominant narratives about Japanese society.
Learning modes and locations may be different depending on the course start date. Please check the location of your chosen course and read our guide to learning modes and locations to help you choose the right course for you.
Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Centre for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.
This film studies course examines the Japanese New Wave as both a cinematic movement and a historical moment of experimentation. Unlike the Japanese Golden Age of the 1950s, typified by powerful studios and established masters, the New Wave emerged amid the collapse of the studio system, the rise of television, and widespread political protest.
We will explore how New Wave filmmakers rejected classical storytelling, stable moral frameworks, and traditional images of Japanese identity, instead developing a formally experimental, politically confrontational, and socially transgressive cinema. The course places these films in dialogue with other international new waves while assessing what makes the Japanese case distinct: its roots within the studio system itself, its challenge against that system, and its critique of postwar Japanese society.
Some of the filmmakers we will look now stand among the greats of Japanese film history, including Oshima Nagisa, Imamura Shohei, Teshigahara Hiroshi, or Shinoda Masahiro, among many others.
What will we cover?
• The Japanese studio system and its dominance up to the late 1950s • Youth culture, rebellion, political unrest, and generational conflict in postwar Japan • Formal experimentation: fractured narratives, stylisation, abstraction, and genre subversion • The stylistic traits and themes of several specific films and filmmakers from the movement • The role of the Art Theatre Guild (ATG) as a distribution and exhibition network for radical cinema • The place of the Japanese New Wave in global film history
What will I achieve? By the end of this course you should be able to...
• Identify the key filmmakers, films, and stylistic traits of the Japanese New Wave • Situate New Wave cinema within its social, political, and industrial contexts • Analyse how formal experimentation relates to political and cultural critique • Compare the Japanese New Wave with other international new waves • Evaluate the movement’s significance within Japanese and global cinema history
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
The course is suitable for all levels and you do not require any particular skills, just an interest in Japanese cinema, history and culture.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
Short clips from the films will be provided, as well as reading materials. The class will be structured around a combination of PowerPoint presentations, film clips and class discussions.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
The tutor will show extracts from films and you do not have to obtain them.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Please look also for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.
Dr Jean-Baptiste de Vaulx has taught at Royal Holloway, University of London, and currently is an associate lecturer at University College London. His fields of teaching and research focus on world cinema, international film history, film festivals and cinephile film cultures. He has published articles and book chapters on varied topics including child characters in Iranian cinema, the theme of home in the films of Lucrecia Martel, the Japanese new wave director Hiroshi Teshigahara, and the history of world cinema programming on Channel Four.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
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https://www.citylit.ac.uk/the-japanese-new-wave-1959-743071473The Japanese New Wave 1959-74https://www.citylit.ac.uk/media/catalog/category/masters-of-cinema-celine-sciamma-hf397-1080.jpg189189GBPInStock/Courses/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies/World film/Courses/Online courses228511771580210017311228511771580<p>This course explores the Japanese New Wave, a radical and transformative period in Japanese cinema spanning roughly from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. Emerging at a moment of political unrest, social upheaval, and industrial crisis, the Japanese New Wave saw a generation of filmmakers challenge the conventions of studio filmmaking, traditional aesthetics, and dominant narratives about Japanese society.</p>003071431The Japanese New Wave 1959-74189189https://www.citylit.ac.uk/media/catalog/category/masters-of-cinema-celine-sciamma-hf397-1080.jpgInStockEveningWedOnlineAvailable courses5-10 weeksWeekday2027-01-06T00:00:00+00:00Jan 2027Culture, history & humanitiesHF349189189The Japanese New Wave 1959-74189123189Jean-Baptiste de Vaulxthe-japanese-new-wave-1959-74/hf349-2627<p>This course explores the Japanese New Wave, a radical and transformative period in Japanese cinema spanning roughly from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. Emerging at a moment of political unrest, social upheaval, and industrial crisis, the Japanese New Wave saw a generation of filmmakers challenge the conventions of studio filmmaking, traditional aesthetics, and dominant narratives about Japanese society.</p>0000-Available|2027-01-06 00:00:00<p>This film studies course examines the Japanese New Wave as both a cinematic movement and a historical moment of experimentation. Unlike the Japanese Golden Age of the 1950s, typified by powerful studios and established masters, the New Wave emerged amid the collapse of the studio system, the rise of television, and widespread political protest.</p><p>We will explore how New Wave filmmakers rejected classical storytelling, stable moral frameworks, and traditional images of Japanese identity, instead developing a formally experimental, politically confrontational, and socially transgressive cinema. The course places these films in dialogue with other international new waves while assessing what makes the Japanese case distinct: its roots within the studio system itself, its challenge against that system, and its critique of postwar Japanese society.</p><p>Some of the filmmakers we will look now stand among the greats of Japanese film history, including Oshima Nagisa, Imamura Shohei, Teshigahara Hiroshi, or Shinoda Masahiro, among many others.</p><p>This course explores the Japanese New Wave, a radical and transformative period in Japanese cinema spanning roughly from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. Emerging at a moment of political unrest, social upheaval, and industrial crisis, the Japanese New Wave saw a generation of filmmakers challenge the conventions of studio filmmaking, traditional aesthetics, and dominant narratives about Japanese society.</p><p>• The Japanese studio system and its dominance up to the late 1950s<br>• Youth culture, rebellion, political unrest, and generational conflict in postwar Japan<br>• Formal experimentation: fractured narratives, stylisation, abstraction, and genre subversion<br>• The stylistic traits and themes of several specific films and filmmakers from the movement<br>• The role of the Art Theatre Guild (ATG) as a distribution and exhibition network for radical cinema <br>• The place of the Japanese New Wave in global film history</p><p>• Identify the key filmmakers, films, and stylistic traits of the Japanese New Wave<br>• Situate New Wave cinema within its social, political, and industrial contexts<br>• Analyse how formal experimentation relates to political and cultural critique<br>• Compare the Japanese New Wave with other international new waves<br>• Evaluate the movement’s significance within Japanese and global cinema history</p><p>The course is suitable for all levels and you do not require any particular skills, just an interest in Japanese cinema, history and culture.</p><p>Short clips from the films will be provided, as well as reading materials. The class will be structured around a combination of PowerPoint presentations, film clips and class discussions. </p><p>The tutor will show extracts from films and you do not have to obtain them.</p><p>Please look also for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.</p>Film studiesWorld filmvirtual189189123HF349NONEWed06/01/27 - 10/02/2719:00 - 21:0019:0021:006 sessions (over 6 weeks)65-10 weeksWeekdayOnlineOnlineJean-Baptiste de VaulxAvailable courses2027-01-06T00:00:00+00:00EveningJan 2027Culture, history & humanities189189The Japanese New Wave 1959-74the-japanese-new-wave-1959-74/hf349-2627<p>This course explores the Japanese New Wave, a radical and transformative period in Japanese cinema spanning roughly from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. Emerging at a moment of political unrest, social upheaval, and industrial crisis, the Japanese New Wave saw a generation of filmmakers challenge the conventions of studio filmmaking, traditional aesthetics, and dominant narratives about Japanese society.</p>0000-Available|2027-01-06 00:00:00<p>This film studies course examines the Japanese New Wave as both a cinematic movement and a historical moment of experimentation. Unlike the Japanese Golden Age of the 1950s, typified by powerful studios and established masters, the New Wave emerged amid the collapse of the studio system, the rise of television, and widespread political protest.</p><p>We will explore how New Wave filmmakers rejected classical storytelling, stable moral frameworks, and traditional images of Japanese identity, instead developing a formally experimental, politically confrontational, and socially transgressive cinema. The course places these films in dialogue with other international new waves while assessing what makes the Japanese case distinct: its roots within the studio system itself, its challenge against that system, and its critique of postwar Japanese society.</p><p>Some of the filmmakers we will look now stand among the greats of Japanese film history, including Oshima Nagisa, Imamura Shohei, Teshigahara Hiroshi, or Shinoda Masahiro, among many others.</p><p>This course explores the Japanese New Wave, a radical and transformative period in Japanese cinema spanning roughly from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. Emerging at a moment of political unrest, social upheaval, and industrial crisis, the Japanese New Wave saw a generation of filmmakers challenge the conventions of studio filmmaking, traditional aesthetics, and dominant narratives about Japanese society.</p><p>• The Japanese studio system and its dominance up to the late 1950s<br>• Youth culture, rebellion, political unrest, and generational conflict in postwar Japan<br>• Formal experimentation: fractured narratives, stylisation, abstraction, and genre subversion<br>• The stylistic traits and themes of several specific films and filmmakers from the movement<br>• The role of the Art Theatre Guild (ATG) as a distribution and exhibition network for radical cinema <br>• The place of the Japanese New Wave in global film history</p><p>• Identify the key filmmakers, films, and stylistic traits of the Japanese New Wave<br>• Situate New Wave cinema within its social, political, and industrial contexts<br>• Analyse how formal experimentation relates to political and cultural critique<br>• Compare the Japanese New Wave with other international new waves<br>• Evaluate the movement’s significance within Japanese and global cinema history</p><p>The course is suitable for all levels and you do not require any particular skills, just an interest in Japanese cinema, history and culture.</p><p>Short clips from the films will be provided, as well as reading materials. The class will be structured around a combination of PowerPoint presentations, film clips and class discussions. </p><p>The tutor will show extracts from films and you do not have to obtain them.</p><p>Please look also for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.</p>Film studiesWorld filmconfigurable
21001580World filmhttps://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/humanities/film-studies/world-film1/2/285/1177/1580/21001/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Film studies/World film
