Four Japanese kabuki productions will be screened at cinemas and theaters in China.

As one of Japan's oldest cultural heritages, kabuki is a form of drama that incorporates the elements of storytelling, dance and acting in a refined style.

On Oct 18, Two Women at Dojoji Temple, directed by Tamasaburo Bando and featuring Japanese actor Kikunosuke Onoe, was screened at the Capital Theater in Beijing.

The other three productions are The Father and Son Shishi Lions, a famous kabuki lion dance exploring the challenging father and son relationship, Kabuki Next: Aterui, a relatively new genre of kabuki, premiered in 2002, and Murder in a Hell of Oil, which is about a man who impulsively kills a woman.

According to Beijing-based company ATW Culture, which has launched live theater program New Live in China in 2015 and brought international theatrical productions from around the world to Chinese audiences, the project of introducing kabuki productions to cinemas in China is co-organized by kabuki production company, Shochiku Company, from Japan. Since 2005, the company has been producing kabuki films.