The Fir Trees Remain

Moonshadow Ninja Scroll: Twenty-One Eyes

December 1963 •Japanese

A wave of terror is threatening to unseat Shogun Yoshimune. Police stations are erupting into flames, convicts escaping from prison, houses robbed and vandalized, streets teeming with panicked citizens. Is Ijyuin Tanomo, highly-placed official of Owari clan, secretly using deadly ninja to foment riot and rebellion? Narumiya Shinbei, a lone samurai spy adept at ninjutsu must uncover the hidden hand orchestrating these shocking crimes. Shinbei enlists a small band of dedicated ninja to lay siege to the enemy’s stronghold, where his own sister works as an undercover agent. Now, ninja must fight ninja in a last desperate battle to save the shogunate.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx

April 1972 •Japanese

In the second film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must assassinate a traitor who plans to sell his clan's secrets to the Shogunate.

Zatoichi on the Road

November 1963 •Japanese

Zatoichi is sworn to protect the life of a young girl and without any real allies finds himself in the middle of a bloody turf war.

さぶ

January 2020 •Japanese

New Tale of Zatoichi

March 1963 •Japanese

Wishing to find peace, Zatoichi travels to his old village but only finds trouble when he ends up in a love triangle and finds old scores have followed him home.

Zatoichi the Fugitive

August 1963 •Japanese

After arriving in the town of Shimonita, Ichi finds that a price has been put on his head by a local yakuza boss. He's drawn into a trap, but after hearing of the slaying of a former love, Ichi furiously fights his way through the entire clan to face the killer, a hired ronin.

ICHI

October 2008 •Japanese

Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She’s in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick.

Assassins for sale

March 1963 •Japanese

Nagasaki at the end of the Edo period had the taste of a criminal paradise, where, despite the exotic, dangerous work was always in demand. Here, three wandering samurai who earn their living by killing get to know each other. Soon they learn that government officials will be transporting a large cargo of gold and decide to steal it.

The Sword of Doom

February 1966 •Japanese

Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.

Taboo

December 1999 •Japanese

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

The Casebooks of Zenigata Heiji: The Beautiful Shark

November 1961 •Japanese

The hairpin murdered a young girl. Detective Zenigata Heiji begin to investigate. Suddenly a murder case turns into a case of smuggling.

Hana

June 2006 •Japanese

In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.

Love and Honor

December 2006 •Japanese

A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.

Incident at Blood Pass

April 1970 •Japanese

In the Edo period, a nameless ronin accepts an assignment to go to a mountain pass and wait. Near the pass he stops at an inn where a collection of characters gather, including a gang set on stealing shogunate gold that's soon to come over the pass. When the Ronin's assignment becomes clear, to help the gang, he's ordered to kill the inn's residents, including a woman he's rescued from an abusive husband. He's reluctant to murder innocent people; then he learns that the gold shipment is a trap and he's part of a double cross. How he sorts through these divided loyalties tests of his samurai honor, and perhaps of his love for a woman.

Warriors of Ako: Scroll of Heaven, Scroll of Earth

January 1956 •Japanese

Chronichles the story of the Forty-seven Ronin.

Castle of Revenge

April 1952 •Japanese

The film vividly shows the misadventures of Oishi Kuranosuke and the human dramas inside the castle, which lead to the surrender of Ako Castle after seppuku by its lord Asano Takumi-no-kami and the termination of his family's power. This is the first film of the Ako Castle trilogy.

Ninomiya Kinjirou

June 2019 •Japanese

Ninomiya Kinjirou is a biopic follows the life of the eponymous character, an 18th century peasant boy who worked to rescue over 600 poor villages and hamlets from financial ruin by developing new economic policies.

The Twilight Samurai

November 2002 •Japanese

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

Golden Peacock Castle, Part 4

April 1961 •Japanese

The righteous young men, who were separated by the all-out attack of sorcery, are saved by the friendship of a young Sengoku warlord, and now launch an all-out attack on Gondayu, who has usurped the regent's position. An exciting and heated battle unfolds. This is the grand finale of a golden period drama that mobilizes all the popular youth stars.

Beirut: An MCC Virtual TV Event

April 2020 •English

How do we sustain the human spirit, hope and love in the face of a plague? Set in a dingy Lower East Side apartment in the 1980s, Beirut follows the story of Torch, a young man who is in quarantine after testing positive to a nameless disease. His girlfriend, refuses to leave him isolating alone. It’s raunchy, it’s real, it’s poetic; and it reminds us of the power of stories, and their role in fostering hope, solidarity and documentation of extraordinary times.