AGENDA . Agenda Picks

Kazuhiro Soda

Campaign screens Mon., Jan. 10, 7 p.m.; Mental screens Tue., Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m.; $10 each or $25 for both screenings and master class, International House, 3701 Chestnut St., 215-222-4201, scribe.org.


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Published: Jan 5, 2011

[ filmmaker ]

Kazuhiro Soda, who makes films in Japan but lives in New York City, is hardly the only documentarian to venerate the institutional documentaries of Frederick Wiseman, but he's one of a very few not to be shamed by the comparison. In Campaign and Mental, which screen at International House this week as an accompaniment to Scribe Video Center's Tuesday afternoon master class with Soda, he gives his protagonists room to breathe without keeping them at arms' length. Whether he's following a small-time politician making a bid for political office or patients at a mental-health clinic, his movies are sharp and humane, exploring individual limitations and cultural shortcomings with an unflagging eye. Viewers should jump at this rare opportunity to check them out.

Campaign screens Mon., Jan. 10, 7 p.m.; Mental screens Tue., Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m.; $10 each or $25 for both screenings and master class, International House, 3701 Chestnut St., 215-222-4201, scribe.org.