20.05.25, 20:30, Belladonna of Sadness (1973)

‘I want to become a horrifying woman’. This is what Joan wishes for when she makes a deal with the devil after being raped on her wedding night by a feudal lord and his court. Her pact unleashes supernatural gifts in her, with which she seeks revenge on her oppressors. Eiichi Yamamoto's psychedelic cult anime Belladonna of Sadness is a complex but undeniable gem in Japanese animated film history. The film is the final piece of the thematic Animerama trilogy, started by ‘the Japanese Walt Disney’ Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka and his production house Mushi Pro, known for Astro Boy, among others, wanted to aim their sights at an adult audience with the experimental and erotic Animerama films.

Whereas the other two parts of the trilogy are rather flat sex parodies, Belladonna stands out for its seriousness and artistic ambitions. Inspired by Jules Michelet's La Sorcière (1862), an essay on the misogynistic origins of witchcraft, Belladonna explores witchcraft as a source of female power. The film's picturesque, dreamy watercolour images contrast sharply with its violent, explicit content, through which Belladonna straddles the uncomfortable line between exploitation and emancipation. A film that continues to resonate.

This film will be introduced by film scholar Atalya De Cock.