Sedona News – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers on Saturday, May 10 at the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre.
Amidst the profound social change and political turmoil of post-war Japan, a bold generation of avant-garde artists emerged in the 1960s, redefining the boundaries of art through experimental photography, graphic design, underground theatre, performance art and radical Butoh danceforever transforming the global art landscape.

A new aesthetic of photography was born: Are, Bure, Boke (rough, dark and out of focus), pioneered by Moriyama Daidō and the Provoke magazine photographers. Araki beautified bondage and Hosoe Eikoh sublimated the male body. Ishiuchi Miyako captured her experience of American military bases. Kawada Kikujis era-defining photobook The Map captured the poignancy of Hiroshimas trauma.
Master of underground theatre Terayama Shūji produced countless magical, surreal and vividly colourful films, plays and photobooks, Yokoo Tadanori and Awazu Kiyoshi revolutionised graphic design with their incandescent theatre posters, Tanaami Keiichi, Japans answer to Andy Warhol, developed his unique kaleidoscopic vision of Pop-Art, and Butoh founders Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo impacted modern dance forever with their dance of darkness and light.
Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers features the work of Araki Nobuyoshi, Moriyama Daidō, Hosoe Eikoh, Ishiuchi Miyako, Tanaami Keiichi, Yokoo Tadanori, Mishima Yukio, Hijikata Tatsumi, Ohno Kazuo, Terayama Shūji, Tenjō Sajiki, Kawada Kikuji, Neo-Dada Organizers, Hi-Red Center, Awazu Kiyoshi, Hanaga Mitsutoshi, Enomoto Ryoichi, Nakahira Takuma, Tanabe Santaro, Sasame Hiroyuki, Mizohata Toshio, Morishita Takashi, Lena Fritsch, Alexandra Munroe, Lucy Fleming-Brown, Peter Tasker, and Master K.
Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers will be shown at the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre for two shows only on Saturday, May 10 at 3:30 and 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $12 general admission, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona. For more information, visit: www.SedonaFilmFestival.org.