is 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, pr ...
. She was also known as , with her former husband's surname. Many of her works have been documentaries, including ''Embracing'', about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and ''Katatsumori'', about the grandmother who raised her.
Early life and education
Growing up in the rural region of
Nara, Japan
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama ...
, Kawase's parents split early on in her childhood, leaving her to be raised by her great-aunt, with whom she held a combative, yet loving, relationship.
[Karatsu 2009, p. 168.]
She originally attended the
Osaka School of Photography (Ōsaka Shashin Senmon Gakkō; now Visual Arts College Osaka
[)to study ]television production
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
, and later became interested in film, deciding to switch her focus. She was a student of Shunji Dodo
is a Japanese photographer of the Kii Peninsula, Osaka, and other subjects.
Life and career
Dodo was born in Osaka in 1947.[autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...](_blank)
, most of her first short films focus on her turbulent family history, including her abandonment and her father's death. Many of her first forays into filmmaking were autobiographical, inspired heavily by the rural landscape.
Between 1994 and 1996, she released a trilogy of films about her great-aunt: ''Katatsumori'', ''See Heaven'' and ''Sun on the Horizon''. She novelized her films '' Suzaku'' and ''Firefly''.
In 2006, she released the forty-minute documentary ''Tarachime'', which she prefers to be screened before her film from the following year. ''Tarachime'' revisits Kawase's relationship with her great-aunt, tackling very personal themes such as her aunt's growing dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
.
Kawase completed production on her fourth full-length film ''The Mourning Forest
is an 2007 Japanese film directed by Naomi Kawase. It won the Grand Prix at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of a nurse (played by Machiko Ono) who is grieving for her dead child. She works at a nursing home and grows close to ...
'' (''Mogari no Mori''), which premièred in June 2007 in her hometown Nara and went on to win the Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
Her 2011 film ''Hanezu
''Hanezu'' ( ja, 朱花の月, translit. ''Hanezu no tsuki'') is 2011 Japanese drama film directed by Naomi Kawase, based on a novel by Masako Bando. The title is an ancient Japanese word for a shade of red, taken from the 8th century poe ...
'' premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition. South ...
.
Pop star Hikaru Utada
, who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan.
Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...
asked Kawase to create the music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...
for her 2012 single " Sakura Nagashi" (桜流し, lit. "Flowing Cherry Blossoms/Cherry Blossoms Sinking"), later to be included on Utada's 2016 album '' Fantôme''.
In 2013 Kawase was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival
The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and ...
.
Her 2014 film ''Still the Water
is a 2014 Japanese romance film directed by Naomi Kawase. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toro ...
'' was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival
The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film ''Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bil ...
. Her 2015 film '' Sweet Bean'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard
(, meaning '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 w ...
section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival
The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...
.
In April 2016 she was announced as the President of the Jury for the Cinéfondation
La ''Cinéfondation'' is a foundation under the aegis of the Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Fest ...
and short films section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...
.
On October 23, 2018, it was announced that Kawase had been selected by the IOC to shoot the official film for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
. Scheduled to be released in 2022, the film places the 2020 Olympics within the wider context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mixed reactions to the games from Japanese society. NHK aired a documentary about the making of Kawase's documentary on December 26, 2021. Footage and captions in the documentary alleged that protesters were being paid money to attend anti-Olympics rallies. One of the men interviewed later stated he was "unsure" if he had actually attended any anti-Olympics rallies. NHK Osaka cited "editorial oversights" and "deficiencies in research," issuing an apology. They denied that the footage was deliberately fabricated to be misleading. On January 13, 2022, the NHK Osaka director Terunobu Maeda
is a Japanese investor who has been the President and CEO of Mizuho Financial Group (2002–2009) and Chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association (2005–2006). He’s currently the president of NHK.
Maeda was born in Kumamoto, raised in N ...
apologized during a press conference, admitting that the captions "should not have been included." Again he denied that the incident was a fabrication.
In April 2022, '' Shūkan Bunshun'' reported that Kawase physically assaulted a camera assistant while filming '' True Mothers'' in May 2019, leading cinematographer Yūta Tsukinaga and his team to resign mid-production. Kawase did not deny the allegation. In May 2022, the magazine also reported that she assaulted an employee at her production company, Kumie, in October 2015.
Styles and themes
Kawase's work is heavily concerned with the distorted space between fiction and non-fiction that has occurred within the state of modern Japanese society, approaching "fiction with a documentarian's gaze." She employs this documentary-realism to focus on individuals of lesser cultural status, challenging prevailing representations of women within the male-dominated Japanese film industry. This theme is also connected to her own personal reflections on contemporary issues in the current climate of economic depression such as the declining birthrate, alienation, and the collapse of traditional family structures.
She frequently shoots on location with amateur actors.
Kawase's style also invokes the autobiographical practices related to documentary style. Familiar and personal objects such as childhood photographs, and to explore her family history and identity. Her work reflects the personal, intimate, and domestic. Themes that are often associated with feminist practices and Women’s Cinema.
However, Kawase herself does not classify as a feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
due to Japanese feminism's tendency to persist collective identity and view women’s problems through a narrow ideological lens. Instead, she looks at gender as a creative and fluid realm, rather than as a negative fixation. Kawase explains:
Kawase’s films lack political commitment towards social change, but her works nonetheless challenge cinematic conventions. Her subjects are primarily family and friends, and she frequently depicts the relationships between the filmmaker and the subject, and is self-reflexive of her own thoughts and emotions in her works.
Awards
She became the youngest winner of the la Caméra d'Or award (best new director) at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival
The 50th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1997. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to '' Ta'm e guilass'' by Abbas Kiarostami and ''Unagi'' by Shohei Imamura. Jeanne Moreau was the mistress of ceremonies.
The festival opened wit ...
for her first 35mm film, '' Suzaku''.
This is a list of some of her awards:
*1997: Camera D'Or, Cannes International Film Festival: '' Suzaku''
*1999: Special Mention Prize, Vision du Reel: ''The Weald''
*2000: FIPRESCI Prize: ''Hotaru''
*2000: CICAE Prize: ''Hotaru''
*2000: Best Achievement Award in Cinematography and Directing, Buenos Aires International Film Festival: ''Hotaru''
*2007: Special Prize, Yamagata International Film Festival: ''Tarachime''
*2007: Grand Prix, Cannes International Film Festival: ''The Mourning Forest
is an 2007 Japanese film directed by Naomi Kawase. It won the Grand Prix at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of a nurse (played by Machiko Ono) who is grieving for her dead child. She works at a nursing home and grows close to ...
''
*2015: Chevalier Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
of France
*2017: Ecumenical Jury Prize, Cannes International Film Festival: ''Radiance
In radiometry, radiance is the radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a given surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area. Radiance is used to characterize diffuse emission and reflection of electromagnetic radiati ...
''
*2021: Mainichi Film Award for Best Director
The Mainichi Film Award for Best Director is a film award given at the Mainichi Film Awards.
List of winners
References
{{film-award-stub
Director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The ...
: '' True Mothers''
Filmography
Kawase's work was originally produced in various media: 8mm film, 16mm film, 35mm film, and video.[.]
*''I focus on that which interests me'' (1988, 5′)
*''The concretization of these things flying around me'' (1988, 5′)
*''My J-W-F'' (1988, 10′)
*''Papa's Icecream'' (1988, 5′)
*''My Solo Family'' (1989, 10′)
*''Presently'' (1989, 5′)
*''A Small Largeness'' (1989, 10′)
*''The Girl's Daily Bread'' (1990, 10′)
* ''Like Happiness'' (1991, 20′)
* ''Embracing'' (; 1992, 40′)
* ''White Moon'' (1993, 55′)
* ''Katatsumori'' (; 1994, 40′)
* ''See Heaven'' (; 1995, 10′)
* ''Memory of the Wind'' (1995, 30′)
* ''This World'' (1996, 8′)
* ''Sun on the Horizon'' (; 1996, 45′)
* '' Suzaku'' (; 1997, 95′)
* ''The Weald'' (; 1997, 73′)
* ''Kaleidoscope'' (''Mangekyō'') (1999, 81′)
* ''Firefly
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'' (''Hotaru'') (2000, 164′)
* ''Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth'' () (2001, 55′)
* ''Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom'' (''Tsuioku no dansu'') (2003, 65′)
* '' Shara'' (''Sharasōju'') (2003, 100′)
* ''Kage'' (''Shadow'') (2006, 26′)
* ''Tarachime'' (2006, 43′)
* ''The Mourning Forest
is an 2007 Japanese film directed by Naomi Kawase. It won the Grand Prix at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of a nurse (played by Machiko Ono) who is grieving for her dead child. She works at a nursing home and grows close to ...
'' (''Mogari No Mori'') (2007, 97′)
* '' Nanayomachi'' 「七夜待」(2008)
* ''In Between Days'' (2009)
* ''Visitors'' (2009) (segment "Koma")
* ''Genpin'' (2010)
* ''Hanezu
''Hanezu'' ( ja, 朱花の月, translit. ''Hanezu no tsuki'') is 2011 Japanese drama film directed by Naomi Kawase, based on a novel by Masako Bando. The title is an ancient Japanese word for a shade of red, taken from the 8th century poe ...
'' (2011)
* '' 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero'' (2011)
* ''Chiri'' (2012)
* ''Still the Water
is a 2014 Japanese romance film directed by Naomi Kawase. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toro ...
'' (2014)
* '' Sweet Bean'' (2015)
* ''Radiance
In radiometry, radiance is the radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a given surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area. Radiance is used to characterize diffuse emission and reflection of electromagnetic radiati ...
'' (2017)
* '' Vision'' (2018)
* '' Tokyo 2020 Official Film'' (2020)
* '' True Mothers'' (2020)
References
Sources
* .
* .
* .
* .
External links
*
*
Interview with Kawase Naomi
– Documentary Box (Interviewer: Aaron Gerow)
Interview with Naomi Kawase
– Meniscus Magazine
at Punto de Vista Documentary Film Festival of Navarra
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawase, Naomi
1969 births
Living people
Japanese women cinematographers
Japanese women film directors
Japanese cinematographers
Japanese documentary filmmakers
Japanese film directors
Japanese film editors
Japanese film producers
Japanese women film producers
Japanese screenwriters
People from Nara, Nara
Japanese women screenwriters
Asian film producers
Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Japanese women editors
Women film editors
Women documentary filmmakers
Directors of Caméra d'Or winners