Portland is a summer city with a long fall. So while we don’t have much similar to Japan’s hanabi festivals—the word translates to “fireworks,” and we have literally banned fireworks—Portlanders pretty obviously have distinct summer modes and rainy winter mentalities.
A release from Clinton Street Theater, announcing the line-up for its third annual Hanabi Film Festival, describes one of the event’s roots as a way to say “We will start the season of having fun by the river!”—a feeling Portlanders definitely share.
For a third year, Clinton Street Theater celebrates summer and venerates Japanese cinema with its Hanabi Fest, inviting audiences the chance to watch award-winning classics, forgotten cult favorites, and mind-bending anime on the big screen from August 18-31. That’s not that start of river season, but it is a perfect time to take part in another time-honored tradition gaining traction as our summers grow hotter: Beating the heat at the movies.
New this year, Clinton Street will host the US premiere of rock drama Bold as You, and the Portland premiere of Kazuya Shiraishi’s Bushido, a 2024 samurai film that Japan Times called a “meticulously executed throwback that revitalizes the genre.”
“My hope is to keep bringing brand new films from Japan to Portland,” said festival programmer and theater co-owner Aaron Colter, “and eventually have an exchange where films from the Pacific Northwest can debut in Japan at a festival there.”
Colter noted that simply programming Habani has helped him forge connections with distributers, and he hopes to bring even more new films from Japan to Clinton Street throughout the year.
The 2025 Hanabi Fest kicks off on August 18 with the award-winning Women in the Dunes (1964), a gorgeous allegorical black and white film from Japanese New Wave director Hiroshi Teshigahara. Shinji Somai’s major work Typhoon Club (1985) is another stunner on Hanabi’s schedule, and it’s funny to see these two critically acclaimed films screening on Monday and Tuesday nights respectively. Hanabi Fest knows what its about; it saved its weekend spots for cult films.
The programming is so tight that we could say something about every film on the schedule—Dogra Magra (1988) is a lauded adaptation of a novel that can purportedly drive readers insane; Asako I & II is a psychologically and emotionally mysterious earlier work from the director of Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi.
Many of the showings this year represent new or new-to-Portland restorations, like the 1966 stylized crime-noir Black Tight Killers and 1984 punk comedy The Crazy Family, the later of which was restored from director Gakuryû Ishii’s original negatives.
A centerpiece of the fest’s second weekend, The Legend of the Stardust Brothers is a cult film’s cult film in which two musical polar opposites are forced into a synth-pop duo by a mysterious music producer (with glowing eyes!). The Guardian called Stardust Brothers “irritating,” the score sounds like Oingo Boingo, and there are plenty people in Portland who think that sounds like a good time. (One of the brothers is Mr. Tōgō from the 1977 House).
One of ” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>several 4K restorations of Mamoru Hosoda anime features to be released this year, Wolf Children (2012) is an underwhelming pick—life affirming, family friendly, at times so cringe I left my body—but Colter says he wanted to program at least one all ages anime (presented in Japanese with English subtitles) to screen on an afternoon for free.
While it’s not newly restored, the fest’s other anime pick Masaaki Yuasa’s expertly-designed, visually-shifting Mind Game (2004) is something you should make it your beeswax to see on the big screen, if you haven’t.
Like previous years, attendees can bring in to-go food from Kashiwagi, just down the street, and Colter noted the Clinton Street team is working on partnerships with other local vendors and groups to table at the screenings. Look for a special set of Hanabi Fest slides running before trailers that will highlight different shops and local Japanese community non-profits.
“I hope Portland audiences will come to see titles that have never been given a proper release on the big screen in America before” said Colter, “and fall in love with films making their way to our shores for the first time.”
Hanabi Film Festival takes place at Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton from Mon Aug 18-Sun Aug 31. $10 per film or $50 festival passes available in a limited quantity. info and showtimes at cstpdx.com/hanabi.
