Dr. Desser is Professor Emeritus, Cinema Studies, University of Illinois. He is widely considered to be one of the leading scholars of Japanese cinema in the U.S., and has written books on Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, and other Japanese directors, and contributed the commentary to the Criterion Collection DVD release of Seven Samurai. The focus of his talk will be on the relationships between anime and Japanese/Westerb cinema, and on his experiences through 40 years of teaching about Japanese film and television, both live-action and animated