Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Take a sneak peek at “The Pornographers” by Shōhei Imamura.👀
About the film:
Subu makes porn films – cheap, grubby 8mm movies, often based on his customers’ special wishes. He also functions as a pimp. Subu lives with a widowed hairdresser and her two children. Son Koichi is a cash-hungry student, his sister Keiko is 15. When their mother ends up in hospital, Subu begins an incestuous relationship with his stepdaughter. With that, the precarious meshwork of the family is destroyed. Koichi steals his mother’s money, while Keiko turns to young yakuza and sets them on Subu. In the end, the mother is transferred to a psychiatric ward. But at least she keeps her carp, which she believes is the reincarnation of her husband.
Subu’s insight that “everything depends on money” pervades every relationship in this grim grotesquerie of a family farce, an “introduction to anthropology via pornography” (the translated film title). In comical and dramatic scenes, Shōhei Imamura depicts greed and base instincts as human constants. This world premiere of the 4K restoration based on the original negative marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the master director.
Are you excited about the film? Support it and show your love for cinema by sharing the trailer with your friends and family.
“The Pornographers” is part of the 2026 Classics programme.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR BERLINALE CHANNEL HERE
► bit.ly/BerlinaleYouTube
CHECK OUT
► Instagram: instagram.com/berlinale
► TikTok: tiktok.com/@berlinale
► LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/berlinale
► Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/dpEOX
► Facebook: facebook.com/berlinale
► Website: https://www.berlinale.de
► Newsletter: bit.ly/BerlinaleNewsletter
#Berlinale #Berlinale2026 #BerlinaleClips
Thumbnail: © 1966 Nikkatsu
Take a sneak peek at “The Pornographers” by Shōhei Imamura.👀
About the film:
Subu makes porn films – cheap, grubby 8mm movies, often based on his customers’ special wishes. He also functions as a pimp. Subu lives with a widowed hairdresser and her two children. Son Koichi is a cash-hungry student, his sister Keiko is 15. When their mother ends up in hospital, Subu begins an incestuous relationship with his stepdaughter. With that, the precarious meshwork of the family is destroyed. Koichi steals his mother’s money, while Keiko turns to young yakuza and sets them on Subu. In the end, the mother is transferred to a psychiatric ward. But at least she keeps her carp, which she believes is the reincarnation of her husband.
Subu’s insight that “everything depends on money” pervades every relationship in this grim grotesquerie of a family farce, an “introduction to anthropology via pornography” (the translated film title). In comical and dramatic scenes, Shōhei Imamura depicts greed and base instincts as human constants. This world premiere of the 4K restoration based on the original negative marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the master director.
Are you excited about the film? Support it and show your love for cinema by sharing the trailer with your friends and family.
“The Pornographers” is part of the 2026 Classics programme.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR BERLINALE CHANNEL HERE
► bit.ly/BerlinaleYouTube
CHECK OUT
► Instagram: instagram.com/berlinale
► TikTok: tiktok.com/@berlinale
► LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/berlinale
► Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/dpEOX
► Facebook: facebook.com/berlinale
► Website: https://www.berlinale.de
► Newsletter: bit.ly/BerlinaleNewsletter
#Berlinale #Berlinale2026 #BerlinaleClips
Thumbnail: © 1966 Nikkatsu
