Zipangu Fest, the UK’s premier showcase for independent, cutting edge or otherwise off-the-radar features, experimental films, documentaries and animation from, about or in any way involving Japan is back at the Cinema Museum with an evening devoted to the legendary London-based female-fronted punk-pop performance combo Frank Chickens.

Founding member Kazuko Hohki and her fellow Frank Chickens members, a self-described troop of “misfits from Japan”, will be in attendance for a selection of  Chicken-themed fun, frolics and films, including a selection of goodies from the Zipangu Fest archives, as yet previously unseen in the UK. Confirmed titles are:

• The Good Wife of Tokyo (Kim Longinotto, 1993), 52 mins.

After fifteen years living in London, Frank Chickens’ Kazuko Hohki returns to her family in Tokyo to celebrate her marriage to her English boyfriend. Her mother, priestess of the religious ‘House of Development’, leads the ceremony. In Hohki’s interview with her mother and friends, notions about love, marriage and the role of women in modern-day Japan are overturned. From the director of Divorce Iranian Style (1998), Gaea Girls (2000) and Pink Saris (2010).

• Frank Chickens – The Movie (Robert Makin, Ollie Verschoyle, 2013), 14 mins.

A portrait of the unique, ever-evolving pop performance group and their surprise win of the Fosters Comedy God award in 2010, featuring interviews with Stewart Lee and Kazuko Hohki.

“An affectionate portrait of Frank Chickens, the cult-alternative-pop-performance group founded by the charming and inimitable Kazuko Hohki. She offers a home for (mainly) young Japanese women to escape the conservative traditions and expectations that flow from their own culture and from Western ideas about the Far East, a place where they can revel in absurdity. And anything that mixes J-Pop musical stylings with ditties about ninjas, while glittering golden gowns and throwing themselves into comically-choreographed dance routines simply can’t be bad.” Jamie Arrowsmith, Hunger TV

Find out more about Zipangu Fest and Frank Chickens.

Doors open at 16.30 for a 17.00 start. Refreshments will be available in our licensed café/bar.

TICKETS & PRICING

Spring Season 2014 ticketing applies.

Advance tickets may be purchased from WeGotTickets, or direct from the Museum by calling 020 7840 2200 in office hours.