Hirokazu Kore-eda

Hirokazu Kore'eda
Kore-eda at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival
Native name	是枝 裕和
Born	(1962-06-06) 6 June 1962 Tokyo, Japan
Alma mater	Waseda University
Occupation	Film director, film producer, screenwriter, film editor
Years active	1989–present

Hirokazu Kore'eda (是枝 裕和, Koreeda Hirokazu, born 6 June 1962) is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including Nobody Knows (2004), Still Walking (2008), and After the Storm (2016). He won the Jury Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival for Like Father, Like Son and won the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters.

Career

Before embarking on a career as a film director, Kore-eda worked as an assistant director on documentaries for television. He eventually transitioned into directing, and directed his first television documentary, Lessons from a Calf, in 1991. He directed several other documentary films thereafter.^[1]

In 1995, at the Venice Film Festival, he won a Golden Osella Award for Best Director for first fiction feature film, Maborosi. At the 1999 Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, he won awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay for his film After Life.

In 2004, he won the Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Film and Best Director for his film Nobody Knows. His 2008 film, Still Walking, also earned accolades, including Best Director at the 2009 Asian Film Awards.

His 2013 film, Like Father, Like Son, premiered and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.^[2] It ultimately did not win, but it won the Jury Prize,^[3] as well as a commendation from the Ecumenical Jury.^[4] In October 2013, the film won the Rogers People’s Choice Award at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival.^[5]

Kore-eda's 2015 film, Our Little Sister, was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, though it did not win.^[6] His 2016 film, After the Storm, debuted to critical acclaim at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category.^[7] For his work on the film, he won the award for Best Director at the Yokohama Film Festival.^[8] Kore-eda won Best Film and Best Director Japan Academy Prizes for his film The Third Murder (2017), which also screened in the main competition of the 74th Venice International Film Festival.^[9]

In 2018, his film, titled Shoplifters, about a young girl that is welcomed in by a family of shoplifters, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or^[10] and Donostia Award at San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Style and influences

According to the Harvard Film Archive, Kore-eda's works "reflect the contemplative style and pacing of such luminaries as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang".^[11]

Kore-eda is most often compared to Yasujirō Ozu, although the director has said he feels influenced by Ken Loach.^[12]

In a 2009 interview, Kore-eda revealed that Still Walking was based on his own family.^[13]

Accolades

• 1995: Venice Film Festival - Golden Osella, Best Director (Maborosi)
• 1999: Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema - Best Film and Best Screenplay (After Life)
• 2004: Blue Ribbon Awards - Best Film and Best Director (Nobody Knows)
• 2008: Mar del Plata International Film Festival - Best Film (Still Walking)
• 2009: Asian Film Awards - Best Director (Still Walking)
• 2013: Cannes Film Festival - Jury Prize (Like Father, Like Son)
• 2015: Yokohama Film Festival - Best Director (Our Little Sister)^[8]
• 2016: Films from the South - Best Film (After the Storm)
• 2018: Japan Academy Prize - Best Film and Best Director (The Third Murder)
• 2018: Cannes Film Festival - Palme d'Or (Shoplifters)
• 2018: San Sebastián International Film Festival - Donostia Award

Filmography

Hirokazu Kore-eda at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Frequent Collaborators

Kore-eda often casts the same actors in his narrative films, in particular Kirin Kiki and Susumu Terajima, both of whom have appeared in six of Kore-eda's films. Other performers who have collaborated with Kore-eda on multiple films include Hiroshi Abe, Arata, Tadanobu Asano, Lily Franky, Isao Hashizume, Ryo Kase, and Yui Natsukawa.

References

Further reading

• "After Life" (Review) by Jonathan Ellis. Film Quarterly, Vol. no. 57, Issue no. 1, pp. 32–37. ISSN 0015-1386.
• "This is your life: Tony Rayns interviews After Life's director Koreeda Hirokazu" Sight & Sound, March 1999.
• Martonova, Andronika. Boys dont’t cry: the image of the children as a social problem in Hirokazu Koreeda’s films. - In: Central Asian Journal Of Art Studies. Almaty, T. Zhurgehov Kazakh National Academy of Arts, 2016. pр. 55-64

External links

• Official website
• Hirokazu Kore-eda on IMDb
• Hirokazu Kore-eda at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)