(sometimes credited as Tsuyoshi Takamine) is an Okinawan

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

fiction films Narrative film, fictional film or fiction film is a motion picture that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Commercial narrative films with running times of over an hour are often referred to as feature films, or feature ...

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

and

experimental films Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

. Born on Ishigaki Island and raised in

Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area ...

, Takamine went to university in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

and there began making

8mm film 8 mm or 8mm may refer to: ;Film technology *8 mm film, a photographic cine film format principally intended for domestic use. The term may also refer to later variants: ** Super 8 mm film ** Single-8 film ** 8 mm video format, a type of video recor ...

s. He made his feature film debut with ''

Paradise View In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradi ...

'' (1985) and won a number of awards for '' Untamagiru'' (1989), including the Caligari Film Award at the Berlin Film Festival, the best feature film award at the

Hawaii International Film Festival The Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii. HIFF has a focus on Asian-Pacific cinema, education, and the work of new and emerging filmmakers. HIFF’s primary festival is ...

, the Golden Montgolfiere at the

Three Continents Festival The Festival des 3 Continents is an annual film festival held since 1979 in Nantes, France, and is devoted to the cinemas of Asia, and Africa and Latin America. It was founded by Philippe and Alain Jalladeau.Hochi Film Award The are film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Hochi Shimbun , previously known as , is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper. In 2002, it had a circulation of a million copies a day. It is an affiliate newspaper of ''Yomiuri Shimbun''. ...

. That film also earned him the

Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award The is given annually by the Directors Guild of Japan to a new director of a film released that year who is considered the most "suitable" for the award. The winner is selected by a committee formed of DGJ members. All formats—feature film, docu ...

. Other works include the feature-length video '' Tsuru-Henry'' (1998) and documentaries on Okinawan performers such as

Rinshō Kadekaru was a Japanese-Okinawan singer who was known as a representative Okinawan folk, shimauta, singer of the post-war era. Early life Kadekaru was born in Goeku Village, Okinawa PrefectureGoeku was later renamed Koza city and is now called Okinawa ...

. His films have centered on the politics of Okinawan history and cultural identity, particularly by using the

Okinawan language The Okinawan language (, , , ) or Central Okinawan, is a Northern Ryukyuan language spoken primarily in the southern half of the island of Okinawa, as well as in the surrounding islands of Kerama, Kumejima, Tonaki, Aguni and a number of sm ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and folk legends.

Selected filmography

* ''Okinawan Dream Show'' (オキナワン　ドリーム　ショー, 1974) * ''Okinawan Chirudai'' (オキナワン　チルダイ, 1978) * ''

'' (パラダイスビュー, 1985) * '' Untamagiru'' (ウンタマギルー, 1989) * '' Tsuru-Henry'' (夢幻琉球・つるヘンリー, 1998) * '' Hengyoro'' (変魚路, 2016)

References

External links

* *
Katakuchiwarū
Director's blog (in Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Takamine, Go 1948 births Living people Japanese documentary film directors Japanese experimental filmmakers People from Okinawa Prefecture Japanese film directors