Masaki Kobayashi's classic 'jidai-geki' samurai drama is set in 17th-century Japan. Tatsuya Nakadai stars as Hanshiro Tsugumo, an aging and disenfranchised samurai warrior who enters the house of a feudal lord asking to commit the act of hara-kiri (ritual suicide) on his land according to the ancient samurai code. On arrival, Hanshiro begins to tell his tragic life story, which is played out in flashback, culminating in Hanshiro's violent revenge upon those whose hypocrisy and authoritarianism robbed him and his family of life, love and happiness.

Three performances by the Nederlands Dans Theater. The choreography by Jirí Kylián is set to Stravinsky's 'Les noces' and 'Symphony of Psalms', and Tôru Takemitsu's 'Torso'. Among the dancers are Shane Carroll, Nils Christe and Sabine Kupferberg.

A group of resourceful kids start "solution-seekers.com," a website where "cybervisitors" can get answers to questions that trouble them. But when one questioner asks the true meaning of Christmas, the kids seek to unravel the mystery by journeying back through the prophecies of the Old Testament. What they find is a series of "S" words that reveal a "spectacular story " With creative characters, humorous dialogue and great music, The "S" Files is a children's Christmas musical your kids will love performing.

Collection of five classic films from the celebrated Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.

In 'Ikiru' (1952) a dying man discovers a zest for life and desire to do some good after 30 years of dedicated work for the civil service. When Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), Chief of the Citizen's Section of the Town Hall, finds he has only six months to live he uses his influence to cut through bureaucratic red tape and give the go-ahead to the construction of a children's park in a poor area.

In 'Red Beard' (1965), set at the end of the Tokugawa era, domineering Dr Niide (Toshirô Mifune), known as 'Red Beard', is responsible for training new doctors, among them the lazy and socially ambitious Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama). However, through a series of lessons in human sufferings, Yasumoto is eventually transformed into a caring doctor.

In 'The Lower Depths' (1957), adapted from the play by Maxim Gorky, Sutekichi (Mifune) is a pedlar who hides from the police in a dosshouse. Here he encounters many different characters, including an older woman who is in love with a thief, himself infatuated with a younger woman.

In 'I Live in Fear' (1955), at the height of the Cold War, ageing Japanese foundry owner Kiichi Nakajima (Mifune) decides that he and his entire family must emigrate to Brazil in order to find safety from a potential nuclear attack. The rest of the family, unwilling to sell up and move, attempt to have Kiichi declared mentally incompetent.

'Dodes'ka-den' (1970), set in Tokyo, portrays the lives of a variety of slum-dwellers, including the mentally ill Roku-chan (Yoshitaka Zushi) who passes his days pretending to be a conductor on a make-believe tram.