A CENTURY IN SOUND

LONDON PREMIERE

In Partnership with Barbican (The Old Ways)

DIRECTOR Q&A HOSTED BY FILM WRITER AND FORMER TOKYO RESIDENT BECCA VOELCKER

Step inside three of Tokyo’s legendary ‘listening cafés’.

Japan has a tradition of Onagku Kissa: specialised cafes where people can come and listen reverently to the music they love. This film takes us to three, specialising in classical music, jazz, and rock, to meet the music devotees who run and frequent them.

The history of these spaces, spanning the post-war period to the late 1980s, is also the story of Japan itself in these decades. In their meticulous focus on sound quality, they are also testament to immense dedication and very specific, well-executed craftmanship: one of the café owners has even hand-carved elements of his café’s sound system.

Nick Dwyer, Tuataroa Rapana | Japan/Sweden| 2024 | 106 min