was a Japanese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

known mainly for films with a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

agenda made in the late 1940s and early 1950s. His most noted works are the anti-war films ''

Listen to the Voices of the Sea ''Listen to the Voices of the Sea'' ( ja, 日本戦歿学生の手記　きけ、わだつみの声, Nippon senbotsu gakusei no shuki: Kike wadatsumi no koe, Notes from fallen Japanese Student Soldiers: Listen to the Voices from the Sea) is a 1950 ...

'' (1950) and ''

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

'' (1953).

Life

Hideo Sekigawa joined the documentary branch of P.C.L. film studios (later Toho) in the 1930s where he worked on militarist propaganda films despite his

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

leanings. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Sekigawa debuted as co-director of the pro- unionist ''

Those Who Make Tomorrow is a 1946 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto (who was also co-writer). It was produced to illustrate the purpose of the workers' union at the Toho film studios, as the Allied Forces endorsed the formati ...

'' (1946) which was intended to illustrate the purpose of the workers' union at the Toho film studios. Having difficulties finding work due to his political leanings, he directed the anti-war film ''

'' for Mitsuo Makino's Toyoko Eiga company (later Toei Company). For the

Japan Teachers Union , abbreviated , is Japan's largest and oldest labor union of teachers and school staff. The union is known for its critical stance against the conservative Liberal Democratic Party government on such issues as ''Kimigayo'' (the national anthem) ...

, which had been unhappy with Kaneto Shindo's ''

Children of Hiroshima is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed by Kaneto Shindō. It was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Takako Ishikawa ( Nobuko Otowa) is a teacher on an island in the inland sea off the coast of post-war Hiroshima. During her summer ...

'' for not being political enough, he directed ''

'' (1953) in a semi-documentary style, parts of which were later used (uncredited) by Alain Resnais for his drama

Hiroshima mon amour ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (, lit. , ), is a 1959 romantic drama film directed by French director Alain Resnais and written by French author Marguerite Duras. Resnais' first feature-length work, it was a co-production between France and Japan, and ...

. In later years, Sekigawa's output included both audience-orientated genre works and documentaries. His last film was the 1969 '' Chōkōsō no Akebono''.

Selected filmography

*1946: ''

'' (明日を作る人々, ''Asu o tsukuru hitobito'') co-director with Akira Kurosawa and Kajiro Yamamoto *1947: ''A Second Life'' (第二の人生, ''Daini no jinsei'') *1950: ''

'' (日本戦歿学生の手記　きけ、わだつみの声, ''Nippon senbotsu gakusei no shuki: Kike wadatsumi no koe'') *1952: ''Mixed-Blooded Children'' (混血児, ''Konketsuji'') *1953: ''

'' (ひろしま) *1969: '' Chōkōsō no Akebono'' (超高層のあけぼの)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sekigawa, Hideo Japanese film directors 1908 births 1977 deaths