Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy –
A Zoom Conversation with Oscar-winner Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
10/3 at 6pm CST!
Sponsored by the Film & Media Studies Program of the Department of English and the Humanities Center of Texas Tech University.
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, director of the Academy Award-winning Drive My Car (2021), is one of the most vital voices of Japanese and world cinema. His genre-shattering works, edged with personal and cultural trauma, are punctuated by moments of quiet despair and grand tenderness. On October 3rd, Hamaguchi comes to Texas Tech to speak with students of ENGL 2388/ENGL 5340 and the university community about his acclaimed anthology, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021).
The film chronicles the stain of jealousies that emerge between friends, traps of seduction, and coincidental reunions that promise new depths of connection. Described by Slant Magazine as “alternately scathing, erotic, terrifying, and affirming,” Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival, reveals a filmmaker at the peak of his creative powers.
Next Thursday 10/3 at 6pm CST, assisted by the interpreter Tomoko Momiyama, Dr. Fareed Ben-Youssef will moderate a Q&A with Hamaguchi!
Link to register for the Zoom conversation:
Upon registration, attendees will receive a Zoom link for the Q&A.
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy can be rented on various major streaming sites including on Amazon:
Speaker Bios:
Fareed Ben-Youssef is Assistant Professor in Film & Media Studies in the Department of English at Texas Tech University. He has frequently published on Japanese and global cinema including in his book, No Jurisdiction: Legal, Political, and Aesthetic Disorder in Post-9/11 Genre Cinema (SUNY Press, 2022), and in Japanese Language and Literature. He is also the Film Review Editor of Surveillance & Society.
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. A graduate of Tokyo University and Tokyo University of Arts, Hamaguchi has had a varied career working with both professional and non-professional actors. He has also directed both documentaries and feature films, including Drive My Car (2021). In addition to being nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, Drive My Car won the award for Best International Feature Film at the 2021 Academy Awards.
