Matsumoto Toshio’s Antifascist Queer Becomings

Julia Alekseyeva 

May 21, 2026 / 17:30-19:00  

Room 301, 3F, Building 10, Sophia University 

In person only / No registration required 

This talk introduces the work of avant-garde documentary filmmaker Matsumoto Toshio and conceives of his “neo-documentary” as an antifascist practice. In addition, the talk contextualizes his most famous film, the 1969 Funeral Parade of Roses, alongside other revolutionary queer films from the era. The talk conceives of these productions by directors such as Hani Susumu, Okabe Michio, and Terayama Shuji alongside leftist politics of the era, and especially the concept of “self-revolution,” in connection to surrealism, experimental art practices, and documentary form. 

Julia Alekseyeva is an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She researches interactions between global media and radical leftist politics, with a particular focus on Japan, France, and the former Soviet Union. Prof. Alekseyeva's first academic book, Antifascism and the Avant-Garde: Radical Documentary in the 1960s (UC Press), was published in February 2025. Prof. Alekseyeva is also author-illustrator of the award-winning graphic memoir Soviet Daughter (Microcosm, 2017). She has published several articles on film, art, and politics in Film History, The Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, ARTMargins, The Nib, The Sixties, Jewish Currents, and elsewhere. Most recently, she published a translation of an article by antifascist documentary filmmaker Matsumoto Toshio in the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (JCMS). Prof. Alekseyeva is also the guest editor of three forthcoming issues for Arts, JCMS, and The Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema. 

This talk is organized by Hannah Holtzman (Assistant Professor, Sophia University).