Organised in conjunction with the exhibition Engawa at Centro de Arte Moderna - Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, these two film programmes highlight the documentary impulse that expresses itself in dynamic and variegating ways in Japanese artists’ moving image. Featuring three prominent voices in Japanese contemporary art that work with film and video – Yu Araki, Chikako Yamashiro and Kaori Oda –, the programme presents films that interrogate Japan’s collective memory and its relationships with history and identity, often formed through its contact with other nations, including that of Portugal. Travelling from caves in the southernmost island of Okinawa to a horse-racing venue in the northernmost island of Hokkaido, these two programmes declare Japanese artists’ film and video is where documentary is at its most vital. Julian Ross, curator of the Engawa film programme, will be present with Yu Araki, one of the three featured artists. (Julian Ross)