Festival To Show Five Films From Imax's Birthplace

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Japanese IMAX Film Festival, tonight through Tuesday. Pacific Science Center. No rating; suitable for general audiences. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Initially a bigger deal in Japan than it was in the U.S., the super-70mm IMAX process has inspired a series of films made expressly for Japanese consumption.

In fact, IMAX was born at the 1970 Osaka fair, where the process made its public debut. Between 1970 and 1983, most IMAX films were produced for Japanese fairs, exhibitions, museums and science centers.

A few of these productions, including the popular "Beavers," which was sponsored by a Japanese electric company, have had considerable worldwide exposure. Others have never been seen outside Japan.

Tonight through Tuesday, the Pacific Science Center, in conjunction with the Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Cultural Festival, is presenting a festival of these films. All are U.S. premieres.

It kicks off tonight with showings of all five films in the series.

Wind and flight

"Reach For the Sky" and "The Story of Winds" will play as a double bill at 7 tonight, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, and at 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. It's an ideal children's program, although the spare Japanese dialogue in "Winds" may cause some confusion. It is not English-subtitled.

"Reach" is the first IMAX clay-animation production, created for an aviation museum near Tokyo. It's essentially a silent movie with music and sound effects, based on the story of two aviation pioneers, Capt. Tokugaway and Capt. Kumozo Hino, who made the first official flight in Japanese history on April 5, 1911.

The director, Akira Hanatsuya, takes a broadly comic approach to the material, not unlike the method used 30 years ago in the spectacular comedy, "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines." A crow mocks the team's failed first efforts, as "Tok" and "Hitch" crash to the ground in planes that depend on pedal power or unreliable glue or unlikely designs. But eventually they're soaring, and their rickety plane is transformed into a jet and then a spaceship.

"The Story of Wind" takes place on a California wind farm where the American hero, a boy named Leonard, incongruously speaks Japanese with his father, who's a fan of Greek mythology. As "Red River Valley" plays in the background, the movie makes poetic use of these lonely landscapes.

The maze of towers inspires dreams of the wind god, Triton. In a sequence that eeriely mixes live-action with animation, Triton is transformed into a stone weather vane and helps the boy "ride the winds."

Ants and the Olympics

"Alps Symphony" will be screened with "An Ant's Dream of the Sea," at 8 tonight, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, and at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Designed as a celebration of Shinshu, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics, "Alps" is a wide-ranging film, covering everything from carving and painting to advanced technology, from cherry-blossom displays to sports festivals, including a chaotic log-riding contest that looks like an invitation to multiple fractures. This sequence, along with an episode about the flame-feeders at an apocalyptic bonfire, shows off IMAX's ability to make the wildest events seem up close and personal.

"Ant's Dream," created by insect photographer Satoshi Kuribayashi and screenwriter Terusato Ogawa, presents an ant's view of Sasebo City, as it takes a journey on a leaf boat to the sea. Four strangers cross paths

"Alps Symphony" also plays on a double bill with "From a Little World" at 9 tonight, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday.

The latter follows four people - a model, an electrical worker, a high-school dropout, a nursery attendant - who are brought together by chance.

All the films will be presented in Japanese, without English subtitles, although the credit sequences are frequently translated. A synopsis will be provided for those who don't speak Japanese. ("Creatures of the Seasons," originally announced to play in this series, is not available.) Information: 443-2683 or 443-2001. Two IMAX films to close

This is the last weekend to catch a couple of other IMAX movies at the Center. "Destiny in Space" and "Africa the Serengeti" are ending their long runs Tuesday afternoon. "Yellowstone" will continue.