A film about lesbian nuns in 1950s Japan? Look no further than this year’s BFI Flare festival.

‘Impure Nuns’ is a cheap flick from Japan’s Shin-Tōhō studio. Released in 1958 it tells the story of a young Catholic woman who enters a convent after a rape & abortion. Some years on, after becoming a model nun, she is seduced by a wild young novice and her life unravels.

The film is mad, camp as hell. It is disturbing in its treatment of rape; but at times beautiful and romantic. It bombed on release as it wasn’t sexually explicit enough for its intended male audience but was too obviously intended as semi-porn to be remarketed to women (they did try).

The director was Michiyoshi Doi and it starred Miyuki Takakura as Sister Eri and Mayumi Ōzora as the young novice Anna. The two leads are excellent.

https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/flare/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=impure-nuns-flare26

#土居通芳 #高倉みゆき #大空眞弓 #新東宝株式会社 #shintoho #michiyoshidoi #miyukitakakura #mayumiozora #bfiflare #lgbtq #lesbian #nun #japanesecinema #japan #日本🇯🇵 #queercinema

Jigoku 1960 ‘地獄’
Directed by Nobuo Nakagawa
Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya, Yôichi Numata

After a young theology student flees a hit-and-run accident, he is plagued by both his own guilt-ridden conscience and a mysterious, diabolical doppelgänger. But all possible escape routes lead straight to hell—literally! #Japan #Cinema #Japanese #Movie #Shintoho #Asiancinema #Horror #Japanesecinema

A nice poster for Black Cat Mansion (亡霊怪猫屋敷: Bōrei kaibyō yashiki) (Shintoho 1958)

#BlackCatMansion #亡霊怪猫屋敷 #Shintoho #新東宝株式会社 #JHorror #Kaibyō #かいびょう #bakeneko #化け猫 #Yōkai #妖怪 #Yūrei #幽霊 #怪猫呪いの沼

A nice poster for The Ghost of Yotsuya (Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan 東海道四谷怪談) (Shintōhō 1959).

#新東宝株式会社 #Shintōhō #TheGhostofYotsuya #TōkaidōYotsuyaKaidan #東海道四谷怪談 #TamiyaIemon #伊右衛門 #Oiwa #於岩 #JapaneseHorror #JapaneseGhost #Yūrei #幽霊#TsuruyaNanbokuIV #鶴屋南北