“Japanese ‘comfort women’ were the first line of invasion prior to World War II,” Imamura notes in his earlier documentary Karayuki-san: The Making of a Prostitute. Zegen, Imamura’s only fiction film set entirely outside of Japan, explores this history through the true story of Iheiji Muraoka, a fervently patriotic pimp. Through Muraoka's perspective, the mordant satire exposes how the exploitation of prostitution served as an economic and military catalyst for Japan’s 20th-century imperial expansion across Asia.

An absurdist chamber comedy, Nicolás Pereda’s latest feature centres on the behind-the-scenes staging of an interview with a middle-aged female noise musician, which unfurls into a wider exploration of gender, performance and the costs of artistic independence.

Fashion in Film Festival returns to the ICA for its 20th anniversary, celebrating the collaborators and guests who have brought it to life over the past two decades.