was a Japanese film director. He was the president of the

Directors Guild of Japan The is a trade union created to represent the interests of film directors in the film industry in Japan. It was founded in 1936, with Minoru Murata serving as the first president, and has continued to this day apart from a period between 1943 and ...

Life and career

Sai was born on 6 July 1949 in

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

, Japan. His mother was Japanese and his father was

Zainichi Korean comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

. Sai won the Best Screenplay award at the 11th

Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremony held in Yokohama, Japan. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year and various awards are given to personnel. The first festival, held on February 3, 1980, was a small affair by fans and film critics. In 1994, ...

for ''

A Sign Days is a 1989 Japanese film directed by Yōichi Sai. Awards 11th Yokohama Film Festival *Won: Best Actor - Ryō Ishibashi *Won: Best Actress - Anna Nakagawa *Won: Best Screenplay - Hiroshi Saitō, Yōichi Sai was a Japanese film director. He ...

''. In 1999, he shot ''The Pig's Retribution'', a film set in the lavish natural scenery of

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, inspired by the 1996

Akutagawa Prize The is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes. History The ...

-winning eponymous novel by Eiki Matayoshi. The film won the Don Quixote prize at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

in 1999. Sai directed ''

Blood and Bones is a Japanese film, directed by Yōichi Sai and starring Takeshi Kitano. It is based on the semi-autobiographical novel ''Chi to Hone'' by Zainichi Korean author Yan Sogiru (Yang Seok-il). The film opened in Japan on November 6, 2004. It was r ...

'', a film starring

Takeshi Kitano is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. With th ...

. He has also directed films such as ''Marks'', '' Doing Time'', ''

Quill A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal- nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually ...

'', '' Soo'' and ''

Kamui Gaiden is a 2009 Japanese film directed by Yōichi Sai, based on Sanpei Shirato's manga series of the same title. The film is written by Sai and Kankurō Kudō, starring Kenichi Matsuyama in the titular role. It premiered at Toronto International Fil ...

''. As an actor, Sai appeared in

Nagisa Oshima NaGISA (Natural Geography in Shore Areas or Natural Geography of In-Shore Areas) is an international collaborative effort aimed at inventorying, cataloguing, and monitoring biodiversity of the in-shore area. So named for the Japanese word "nagisa ...

's 1999 film ''

Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

'' and

Masahiko Nagasawa Masahiko Nagasawa (長澤雅彦 ''Nagasawa Masahiko'', born 28 February 1965 in Akita, Japan) is a Japanese film director. He was given a Best New Director award for his film ''Koko ni irukoto'' at the 2002 Yokohama Film Festival The is an a ...

's 2003 film ''The Thirteen Steps''. Sai's 2004 film ''Blood and Bones'' won four

Japanese Academy Awards The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

, including two for Sai himself, for Best Director and Best Screenplay. He had previously received two nominations in the same categories for ''

All Under the Moon is a 1993 Japanese film directed by Yoichi Sai and starring Gorō Kishitani and Ruby Moreno. Plot Tadao (Goro Kishitani) is a North Korean immigrant who works in a taxi cab corporation wholly owned by another Korean immigrant whose dream is to b ...

''. Sai died of bladder cancer at his home in Tokyo, on 27 November 2022, at the age of 73.

Filmography

As director

Film

* ''Mosquito on the 10th Floor'' (1983) * ''Sex Crime'' (1983) * ''Someone Will Be Killed'' (1984) * ''Let Him Rest in Peace'' (1985) * ''Kuroi Doresu no Onna'' (1987) * ''

Hana no Asuka-gumi! is a Japanese manga by Satosumi Takaguchi serialized in ''Monthly Asuka''. It was adapted into a television drama series, two live action films, two OVAs and two drama CDs. It is one of the series with delinquent girls (''sukeban' ...

'' (1988) * ''

'' (1989) * ''

'' (1993) * ''Marks'' (1995) * ''Heisei Musekinin Ikka: Tokyo Deluxe'' (1995) * ''Dog Race'' (1998) * ''The Pig's Retribution'' (1999) * '' Doing Time'' (2002) * ''

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2004) * '' Soo'' (2007) * ''

'' (2009)

TV

* ''

Pro Hunter was a Japanese comedy-action police TV series. It starred regulars Masao Kusakari, Tatsuya Fuji, Joe Shishido, Mayumi Ogawa, with Kyohei Shibata as a semi-regular. It ran for 25 episodes in 1981 and won popularity. Yoichi Sai made his debut as a ...

'' (1981) (ep.15, 16 and 25)

As actor

* ''

'' (1999) * ''The Thirteen Steps'' (2003)

References

External links

* * 1949 births 2022 deaths Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners Japanese film directors Japanese screenwriters Japanese people of Korean descent People from Nagano Prefecture Deaths from cancer in Japan Deaths from bladder cancer {{japan-film-bio-stub