is a Japanese

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Career

Born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Fukada had a father who was a film aficionado and he watched many films on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

when he was young. It was when he was 19 years old studying at Taisho University and discovered the Film School of Tokyo that he began taking evening classes in filmmaking. One of his teachers was

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic, author, actor, and a former professor at Tokyo University of the Arts (2005-2023). Noted for his psychological films that often focus on ambiguous narratives and on their characters' i ...

. He made his first feature-length film, ''The Chair'', in 2002. He joined the Seinendan theater troupe, headed by Oriza Hirata, in 2005, and has often used their work and their actors in his films.

Influences

Fukada has said that he was strongly influenced by the films of

Eric Rohmer The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...

, particularly '' The Green Ray'', and was inspired to become a filmmaker after seeing ''

Children of Paradise ''Children of Paradise'' (, ) is a two-part French romantic drama film by Marcel Carné, produced under war conditions in 1943, 1944, and early 1945 in both Vichy France and Occupied France. Set in the theatrical world of 1830s Paris, it tell ...

'' and '' The Spirit of the Beehive''.

Awards

His film '' Hospitalité'' won the Best Picture Award in the Japanese Eyes competition of the

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. According to the FIAPF, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals and the second largest film festival in Asia behind the ...

in 2010. '' Au revoir l'été'' won the grand prize and the prize of the young jury at the

Three Continents Festival The Three Continents Festival ( French: ''Festival des 3 Continents'') is an annual film festival held since 1979 in Nantes, France, devoted to the cinemas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It was founded by Philippe and Alain Jalladeau.

in 2013. And his 2016 film ''

Harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

'' won the Prix du Jury in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

section of the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

Filmography

* ''The Chair'' (2002) * '' Hospitalité'' (2010) * ''Au revoir l'été'' (2013) * ''

Sayonara ''Sayonara'' is a 1957 American romantic drama film directed by Joshua Logan, and starring Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, James Garner, Martha Scott, Miyoshi Umeki, Red Buttons, Miiko Taka and Ricardo Montalbán. It tells the story of a ...

'' (2015) * ''

'' (2016) * ''The Man from the Sea'' (2018) * '' A Girl Missing'' (2019) * ''The Real Thing'' (2020,

compilation film A compilation film, or compilation movie is a film composed of scenes and shots taken from two or more prior films or television programs and edited together so as to make a new film, whether on the same or a different subject. The most common e ...

of 2019 TV series) * '' Love Life'' (2022) *''Love on Trial'' (2025)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fukada, Koji Japanese film directors Japanese screenwriters 1980 births Living people People from Koganei, Tokyo