The House is Black

The first film at Cinemateket is 'Jigokumon' ('Gate of Hell') by Teinosuke Kinugasa.

This is in the end a film about a woman who sacrifies herself for love and fidelity towards her husband.

During an attempted coup somewhere in Japan in 1159, during the feudal time, one of the court's ladies disguises herself as the lord's wife and a loyal samurai takes her away from the city in order to foul the attackers.
He falls in love with her and when the lord resumes power the samurai and other loyal people at the court are granted their wishes.

Most of the samurais wants land and property but this one want's the woman who disguised herself as the lord's wife. The problem is that she is married.
The samurai can not accept this and when the lord ask him to suggest something else instead of this woman, the samurai points out that the lord always have to keep his promises.

The samurai now tries to win the heart of the married woman and to outmanoeuvre the husband.

Will he succeed?

It's a film that displays some kind of disobiedience I didn't think was possible in the feudal structure of 12th century Japan.

The second film by Forough Farrokhzad - 'Khaneh siah ast' ('The House is Black') - is a moving documentary about people struck by leper living in a leper colony.

This film show the strong will to survive and in spite of great difficulties find friendship and love among other people.

The film was followed up by a documentary about Farrokhzad, a well known and cherished poet in Iran who died very young at the age of 32 in a car accident.

The name of this documentary was 'Jam-e jan' ('The Mirror of the Soul').

(Photo poster 'The House is Blck' taken from: http://www.bifi.fr/upload/bibliotheque/Image/espace%20patrimonial/ARTICLES/2008/AFFICHES_GOVAERS/Jigokumon.jpg)