(Isao Fujisawa, 1974, Japan, 88 minutes)

New 2K restoration!

Thought lost forever for a period of decades, Isao Fujisawa’s landmark of jishu eiga (self-produced film) Japanese queer cinema, Bye Bye Love, resurfaced in 2018 and has now been restored and is ready to meet its public. With shades of Funeral Parade of Roses, Pierrot le fou, and Fando & Lis, Bye Bye Love follows the nihilistic drifter Utamaro (Ren Tamura) and the genderfluid shoplifter Giko (Miyabi Ichijo) as they go on the lam after an encounter with the cops. Writer/director Fujisawa cut his teeth as an assistant director to Hiroshi Teshigara, including on the legendary Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another. Village Voice says that “Bye Bye Love is pure snot-nosed anti-establishment indie heaven.”

In Japanese with English subtitles.