Steven Toll Okazaki (born March 12, 1952) is an American documentary filmmaker known for his raw,

cinéma vérité Cinéma vérité (, , ; "truthful cinema") is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or ...

-style documentaries that frequently show ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances. He has received a Peabody Award, a

Primetime Emmy The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

and has been nominated for four

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, winning an Oscar for the documentary short subject, '' Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo''.

Career

Steven Okazaki started his career at

Churchill Films Churchill Films aka Churchill Media was a producer and distributor of direct-to-video/educational films founded by Robert Churchill (1902-) and Sy Wexler (1916–2005) in 1948 as Churchill Wexler Film Productions. They have produced ''The Mouse and ...

in 1976, making narrative and documentary shorts. In 1982, he produced
Survivors
' for WGBH Boston, a documentary short about Hiroshima and

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

atomic bomb survivors. In 1985, he received his first Academy Award nomination for '' Unfinished Business'', about three ''

Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...

'' Japanese Americans who challenged the

Internment of Japanese Americans Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

during

World War II 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 opposing ...

in court. In 1987, he wrote and directed the independent film, '' Living on Tokyo Time'', which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by

Skouras Pictures Skouras Pictures was an American independent movie distribution company that was founded by Tom Skouras in 1983. The company distributed more than 200 movies between 1983 and 1995, including notable films as ''Blood Simple'', ''My Life as a Dog' ...

. In 1991, he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for '' Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo'', about Estelle Peck Ishigo, a Caucasian artist who accompanied her Japanese American husband to a Japanese internment camp. Okazaki continued to make documentary films for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

and later with HBO. In 2006, he received his third Academy Award nomination for ''

The Mushroom Club ''The Mushroom Club'' is a 2005 documentary short subject, directed by Steven Okazaki. The short film is about the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and its effects on the residents of that city sixty years later. On January 31, 2006 it was nom ...

'', a personal documentary about his journey to Japan to interview atomic bomb survivors on the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. He co-received the 2008 "Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking" Primetime Emmy Award for '' White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki'', and his fourth Oscar nomination in 2009, for the documentary short ''

The Conscience of Nhem En ''The Conscience of Nhem En'' is a 26-minute documentary directed by Steven Okazaki, telling the stories of three survivors of the Tuol Sleng Prison. Also known as S-21, Tuol Sleng was where 17,000 Cambodians were imprisoned and killed in the la ...

''. His production company, Farallon Films, is based in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

. Okazaki was also involved as a multi-instrumentalist in a San Francisco punk rock music group calle
The Maids
(1977–79), whose sole record, a single called
Back to Bataan
' gained some notoriety by way of later punk music compilations.

Filmography

Personal life

Okazaki has been married since 1991 to writer

Peggy Orenstein Peggy Orenstein (born November 22, 1961) is the author of the ''New York Times'' bestsellers ''Boys & Sex, Girls & Sex,'' ''Cinderella Ate My Daughter'' and ''Waiting for Daisy,'' as well as ''Don’t Call Me Princess'', ''Flux'', and the classi ...

. They have a daughter, Daisy Tomoko, born in 2003.

References

External links

*
Farallon Films Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okazaki, Steven 1952 births Living people People from Venice, Los Angeles Venice High School (Los Angeles) alumni American documentary filmmakers American film directors of Japanese descent San Francisco State University alumni Directors of Best Documentary Short Subject Academy Award winners