What kind of change can a small accessory bring to someone's life? Film has a way of showing how an ordinary hairpin or earring can set off events that reshape a person's entire life. For this program, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (MoMAK) has selected two acclaimed films whose stories are each set in motion by a piece of jewelry.
The program also includes a short film with costumes designed by fashion designer Hanae Mori. All three works will be screened on 35mm film from the collection of the National Film Archive of Japan, preserving the visual quality audiences experienced on their original release.
Program
Ornamental Hairpin (簪) — 1941, Shochiku Ofuna, 70 minutes, 35mm, black and white
Emi (Tanaka), who is being kept by a man in Tokyo, loses her hairpin in the open-air bath of a hot spring inn she is visiting. The mishap leads her to Nomura (Ryu), a wounded war veteran, and to the inn's other distinctive guests. Through her warm exchanges with them, Emi comes to reconsider her own life. The film captures the leisurely air of a hot spring town while also depicting harsher realities of the time, including the Sino-Japanese War and the position of women in society. It stands as one of director Hiroshi Shimizu's representative works, in which warmth and hardship, intimacy and solitude, coexist.
Koi no Hitsuji ga Umi Ippai (恋の羊が海いっぱい) — 1961, Iwanami Productions, 20 minutes, 35mm, color
Originally written by Sumiko Haneda as a promotional script for the wool industry, this short was reworked into a musical-style film by director Kazuo Kuroki, making it a distinctive entry in the history of Japanese PR films. Costumes were designed by Hanae Mori, who is also well known in the field of film costume design. The film is a comedic short featuring fast-talking seamstresses reminiscent of Kon Ichikawa's films, while its closing song — composed by Naozumi Yamamoto with lyrics by Shuji Terayama — provocatively questions the very institution of the PR film.
The Earrings of Madame de… (たそがれの女心) — 1953, France / Italy (Franco London / Indusfilms / Rizzoli), 99 minutes, 35mm, black and white
A noblewoman (Darrieux) secretly sells off a pair of earrings given to her by her husband (Boyer). The earrings pass through the hands of her husband's mistress before eventually reaching a baron (De Sica) who is drawn to her. Director Max Ophüls, celebrated for his psychological portraits of women, brings his signature tracking shots to this fateful love story. The dance between the noblewoman and the baron is regarded as one of the great scenes in film history.
Full details on the program are available on the museum's website: https://www.momak.go.jp/Japanese/films/mf_2026
About MoMAK Films
Since 2007, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto has partnered with the National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ) on a film project aimed at bringing an ongoing series of screenings from NFAJ's collection to Kyoto. The regular "MoMAK Films" screening series began in 2009, making NFAJ's collection of roughly 90,000 Japanese and international films accessible to audiences in Kyoto. Programming continues to draw primarily on NFAJ's extensive holdings, with a range of series connecting the perspectives of art and film to the museum's exhibitions.
Screening Details
MoMAK Films 2026: A Story That Begins with an Accessory
Dates: November 21 (Saturday) and 22 (Sunday), 2026
Times: Two screenings each day, at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM
Reception / doors open: 30 minutes before each screening, at the 1st floor Information counter
Admission: ¥520 per program (online ticket); free for junior high school students and younger; free for visitors with a physical or mental disability plus one accompanying person (proof required)
Online tickets: Available through e-tix at https://www.e-tix.jp/momak_films/
Capacity: 50 seats
Venue: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
Organizers: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and the National Film Archive of Japan
Website: https://www.momak.go.jp/
