Film Screening: Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams

Advanced registration is recommended. 

This event is presented by the Carsey-Wolf Center in conjunction with UCSB Reads 2025. This screening will be introduced by Carsey-Wolf Center Assistant Director Miguel Penabella, who will provide a critical and historical overview, along with a brief discussion of the film’s connection to the key themes and ideas in this year’s UCSB Reads book selection, The Book of Delights by Ross Gay.

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams brings to life eight dreamlike vignettes inspired by the director’s own nighttime visions in this deeply personal and visually striking anthology film. Blending imagination with Japanese folklore, each segment explores themes of memory, nature, mortality, war, and the human experience: a young boy encounters a secret wedding of foxes in a forest; a soldier confronts the ghosts of his fallen comrades; an aging artist steps into the sumptuously realized world of Vincent Van Gogh, played by director Martin Scorsese; a small group witnesses an apocalyptic scene of a world ravaged by nuclear disaster. A late-career masterpiece from one of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, Dreams is a meditative reflection on life, spirituality, and humanity’s connection to the natural world.

This event may be photographed or recorded.