50th Anniversary! Hosted by Ryan Ferguson & Aaron Allen
Presented in Japanese with English subtitles
In Godzilla’s last gasp of the Showa era, aliens retrieve Mechagodzilla’s remains and rebuild it with the aid of an unhinged biologist (a scenery-chewing Akihiko Hirata), in hopes of defeating Godzilla for possession of planet Earth. This film marked the return of director Ishiro Honda, who had retired years earlier, disheartened by the increasingly kid-friendly approach of the series. For this final entry, Honda steers the King of the Monsters back into grim territory, interweaving an alien-invasion plot with a tale of tragic romance.
Schedule:
7:00pm – Introduction to the film by hosts Ryan Ferguson and Aaron Allen
7:15pm – Film screening
8:45pm – Post-film presentation and discussion
9:30pm – Event concludes
*Times are approximate
Ryan Ferguson is a film programmer and musician based in Hamilton, ON. He was the lead programmer of the AGH Film Festival between 2014 and 2021 and is the former Curator of Film at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Ryan currently programs the theatrical and special event film screenings at The Westdale. Japanese historical and contemporary cinema is Ryan’s primary area of interest, and ‘The Way of the Sword’ is part of a series of film programs he is developing to provide more exposure to the lesser seen corners of Japanese Cinema.
Aaron Allen is a lifelong fan of horror, exploitation, and cult genre film with a special love for Japanese giant monster movies. From 2012 to 2024, he was the director and lead programmer of the Hexploitation Film Festival in Hamilton, ON. Currently, he co-hosts The Way of the Sword’s annual Kaiju Summer programme, and is a feature film programmer for Amazing Fantasy Fest in Buffalo, NY.
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