TO SLEEP, SO AS TO DREAM
(夢みるように眠りたい」フィルム修復)
dir. Kaizô Hayashi, 1986
73 mins. Japan.
Silent.

SUNDAY AUGUST 22 – DUSK at Les Petits Versailles Community Garden
(Doors at 7:30 PM)

NEW 4K RESTORATION – ONE NIGHT ONLY!

For those who remember Hayashi Kaizô’s MAIKU HAMA: #1 PRIVATE EYE trilogy we screened in 2018, a special outdoor event in advance of our IRL reopening…

Born from the vestiges of some long forgotten dream, TO SLEEP, SO AS TO DREAM is a hauntingly beautiful ode to the silent era that yearns for a distant past—back to an illusory world teeming with new excitements, novel invention and cryptic riddles. Under the faint glimmer of an electric lamp, an aging silver-screen starlet seeks the aid of two steadfast detectives when her darling daughter, the ethereal Bellflower, is kidnapped for ransom. The sleuths find themselves caught in a heady game of cat and mouse as they journey deeper into a sleepless realm of benshi performers, archetypal villainy and never-ending serials. Transposing the silent era’s cinematic language into a work that walks the line between antiquity and fantasy, dream and waking state, TO SLEEP, SO AS TO DREAM casts a spell over the spectator in dream-like fashion, harking back to the magical, early days of cinema.

Programmed in partnership with Japan Society. Special thanks to Kazu Watanabe, Tetsuki Ijichi and Allied Productions (Jack Waters and Peter Cramer.) TO SLEEP, SO AS TO DREAM will be available to rent as part of the 2021 Japan Cuts film festival between August 20 and September 2.