Till We Meet Again (35mm) - Japan Foundation Tour

World War II, Japan: Saburo, a Tokyo-based student, meets Keiko, an illustrator of propaganda posters, in a bomb shelter during an air raid on the city and becomes infatuated with the young woman. After several more chance encounters, a tender, yet passionate love develops between the two.

Their relationship, however, remains unconsummated as Saburo is called up to the front to fight as a soldier of Japan’s imperial army. As time goes on, Japan’s war of aggression becomes a lost cause, which threatens to destroy the prospects of the lovers’ ever meeting again...

Tadashi Imai’s tragic romance was considered for Japan’s submission to the Venice Film Festival in 1951, but ultimately lost out to Rashomon. In its home country, however, Till We Meet Again was deemed a major artistic and financial success and even received the Kinema Jumpo prize.

The kissing scene across the train window remains an iconic image in Japan’s cinema history.