Japanese Female Directors

  • Naomi Kawase – Koma (2009)

    2001-2010DramaJapanJapanese Female DirectorsNaomi KawaseShort Film

    Kawase’s contribution to the 2009 Jeonju Digital Project.

    A Japanese-Korean man (Kitamura Kizuki) travels to a village in Nara to fulfill his late grandfather’s final wish. A local woman (Nakamura Yuko) shows him around town, but the relationship grows into something beyond visitor-and-guide.Read More »

  • Yui Kiyohara – Watashitachi no ie AKA Our House (2017)

    2011-2020JapanJapanese Female DirectorsMysteryYui Kiyohara

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    In this creepy thriller, two people share the same house but do not realize the other is also there.Read More »

  • Naomi Kawase – Genpin (2010)

    2001-2010DocumentaryJapanJapanese Female DirectorsNaomi Kawase

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    About Tadashi Yoshimura’s maternity clinic where he practice “natural births” deep in the forest of Okazaki (Japan).

    The Japan Times wrote:
    The pain of childbirth, Genesis says, is God’s punishment for the original sin of womankind — if only Eve hadn’t given Adam that apple! But in Japan, traditionalists contend, it’s to be embraced, not lamented, since the deeper the agony, the deeper the motherly love. So hold the epidurals, please, we’re Japanese.Read More »

  • Naomi Kawase – Vision (2018)

    2011-2020ArthouseAsianJapanJapanese Female DirectorsNaomi Kawase

    Juliette Binoche finds rapture in the forests of Yoshino

    Jeanne (Juliette Binoche) travels to Japan to search for the rare medicinal plant ‘Vision’, which according to legend only appears once every 997 years under special conditions. On her trip, she meets Tomo, a forest ranger, who joins her in her quest and helps retrace her past. Twenty years earlier, in the same forests of Yoshino where Jeanne now hopes to find Vision, she experienced her first true love.Read More »

  • Naoko Ogigami – Toiretto AKA Toilet (2010)

    2001-2010ComedyDramaJapanJapanese Female DirectorsNaoko Ogigami

    Dysfunctional family and culture run amok in Toilet, which had an absolutely packed house last night at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and had many of the cast & crew in attendance at the screening. The film certainly has it’s Toronto roots showing as it was filmed here (although it’s actually set in the US), with familiar faces & locations on screen. We follow a family through a dysfunctional and eccentric set siblings Ray, Lisa and Maury and their grandmother from Japan, however a language barrier exists between the generations. It’s not the only barrier here as there are strong emotional barrier in each of the characters, all of whom have their own issues to work though. It’s an interesting tale of the individual journeys with the collective family journey, which although unintended become completely intertwined.Read More »

  • Naoko Ogigami – Kamome shokudo AKA Ruokala Lokki AKA The Seagull Diner (2006)

    2001-2010ComedyDramaJapanJapanese Female DirectorsNaoko Ogigami

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    On a summer day, a small Japanese restaurant by the name of Ruokala Lokki (The Seagull Canteen) opens for business in the Punavuori district of Helsinki. The restaurant is run by 38-year-old Sachie who wishes to offer her Finnish patrons not only Japanese food but Japanese-style food for the soul, too. Attracting Finns to the small restaurant run by a lone Japanese woman proves quite difficult, however.

    Luckily Sachie gets to know Midori and her restaurant’s only customer, Tommi Hiltunen, with the help of whom she slowly begins to bring in more customers and settle down in her new life. Kamome Shokudo is a charming little tale of people in the middle of a foreign culture. The film is based on a novel by popular Japanese writer Yoko Mure. Director Naoko Ogigami received an award at the Berlin International Film Festival for her previous film Barber Yoshino.Read More »

  • Momoko Andô – 0.5 miri AKA 0.5 mm (2014)

    2011-2020AsianDramaJapanJapanese Female DirectorsMomoko Andô

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    From japansociety.org
    Sawa, a home helper for a middle class family with an elderly infirm grandfather, is forced to stretch her morals to keep her job. As a result, she finds herself broke and out on the street. She survives her first night by striking up an ambiguous friendship with a kindly old man, gaining access to a portion of the immense wealth held by Japan’s aging population. She continues with similar encounters, and while these begin as scams or revenge on rampant sexism, they ultimately become vulnerable intergenerational exchanges. Director Momoko Ando (Kakera: A Piece of Our Life, 2009) masterfully crafts this journey through Japan’s embattled sexual landscape, confronting aging, class and patriarchy. Adapted from the director’s first novel, 0.5mm features Sakura Ando (the director’s sister), who charges each scene with as much humanity as its impeccably photographed frames can handle. This is a dark and profound comedy of the best sort.Read More »

  • Joji Koyama & Tujiko Noriko – Kuro (2017)

    2011-2020ArthouseDramaJapanJapanese Female DirectorsJoji Koyama and Tujiko Noriko

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    Romi, a Japanese woman living in Paris, works in a karaoke bar. At home in the suburbs, she tends to her paraplegic lover Milou. To pass the time she recounts to him a story alluding to a period they once spent together in Japan.Read More »

  • Naomi Kawase – Hikari AKA Radiance (2017)

    2011-2020DramaJapanJapanese Female DirectorsNaomi KawaseRomance

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    A passionate writer of film versions for the visually impaired meets an older photographer who is slowly losing his eyesightRead More »

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