"Master Class" and Screenings in Philadelphia

I'm doing a "master class" in Philadelphia on Jan 11 at 5pm (I'm not a master, but I'm going to talk about my observational methods and philosophy).
http://scribe.org/

Campaign will be shown on Jan 10 at 7pm and Mental on Jan 11 at 7:30pm as well.

Philadelphia Citypaper did an interview with me.
Here's a nice write up on Philadelphia Weekly.

Kazuhiro Soda Master Class

Forget the ham-fisted stunts of Michael Moore and other soapbox documentarians. Kazuhiro Soda’s frank, taboo-busting “observational documentaries” immerse viewers in the action, forgoing dictatorial narration in favor of allowing the audience to form their own opinions about what they’re viewing, be it the operations of a Japanese mental-health clinic or the machinations of a local election. Tonight, Soda conducts a master class about his Buddhist-inspired, cinéma vérité filmmaking, introducing Philadelphians to the zen and no-frills honesty that has guided his oeuvre. For homework and follow-up, head to International House for the Monday night screening of Soda’s 2008 documentary Campaign and Tuesday night’s Mental, his disarmingly candid exploration of psychiatry in a society that associates mental illness with shame. -Lauren Smith

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/arts-and-culture/Calendar-Jan-5-11-112930639.html?page=2&comments=1&showAll#ixzz1AElyfBpK

Here's another one on "Philadelphia City Paper" by Sam Adams.

Kazuhiro Soda, who makes films in Japan but lives in New York City, is hardly the only documentarian to venerate the institutional documentaries of Frederick Wiseman, but he's one of a very few not to be shamed by the comparison. In Campaign and Mental, which screen at International House this week as an accompaniment to Scribe Video Center's Tuesday afternoon master class with Soda, he gives his protagonists room to breathe without keeping them at arms' length. Whether he's following a small-time politician making a bid for political office or patients at a mental-health clinic, his movies are sharp and humane, exploring individual limitations and cultural shortcomings with an unflagging eye. Viewers should jump at this rare opportunity to check them out.

http://citypaper.net/articles/2011/01/06/kazuhiro-soda