This November and December, Fabrica presents Emotionally Driven: Beauty and Despair in Japanese Cinema — a season of five films exploring the emotional depth, visual elegance and quiet defiance that define Japanese melodrama.

From post-war struggles and shifting social expectations to the intimate conflicts of love, loss and duty, these films reveal the tension between tradition and modernity, and the beauty found in heartbreak. Directors including Mikio Naruse, Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa and Hirokazu Koreeda bring human vulnerability to the screen with striking sensitivity and style.

Part of the BFI’s Too Much: Melodrama on Film project, supported by the BFI Film Audience Network, Emotionally Driven brings this national celebration of heightened emotion and cinematic expression to Fabrica’s screen.

Screenings at Fabrica:
Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse) — Tuesday 25 November
Woman of Tokyo (Yasujiro Ozu) — Thursday 27 November
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Mikio Naruse) — Tuesday 2 December
No Regrets for Our Youth (Akira Kurosawa) — Tuesday 9 December
Maborosi (Hirokazu Koreeda) — Tuesday 16 December

Tickets: £6.50 / £4.50 per screening

Doors & bar open at 6pm for a 6.30pm start

This project is possible with support of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery to bring this project to more audiences across the UK is possible with support of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery to bring this project to more audiences across the UK