Japanese Women Directors

[Michael Kerpan]

I( just watched what I believe is the first feature film of another young woman director -- Chihiro Ishida.  Her "Tonan no kadobeya nikai no onna" is really a lovely film (I bought it largely because it starred Kyoko Kagawa).  The Japanese DVD has subs -- but  looks rather like a rip from a VHS tape at times.  I wonder what this film was shot with?

I will be eager to see her second film -- assuming there is one.

I was disappointed, on the other hand, by Kawase's Nanayomachi (whose past works I have liked very much).

Are Miwa Nishikawa (wild Berries, Sway) and Naoko Ogigami (Seagull Diner, Eyeglasses) currently busy on new projects?

MEK

--- On Sat, 5/30/09, Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow at yale.edu> wrote:

> From: Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
> Subject: Re: Japanese Women Director
> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Date: Saturday, May 30, 2009, 5:52 PM
> 
> > I've noticed that recent years have seen emergence of
> a number of movies made by
> > female director. Is there really a new 'trend' in the
> japanese industry or is it
> > simply a consequence of a better exposition in the
> west (festival programing
> > choices/DVD availability) ?
> 
> It has certainly been noticed in Japan as well: there was a
> special issue of Yuriika on this trend in December 2006.
> 
> One must first connect it with the boom in production, as
> the number of films made has increased over 30% since 2003.
> In this situation, more directors are simply needed. There
> are certainly other factors, but I think before we declare
> this a definite trend or not, we have to wait to see how
> many of these directors promptly make second and third
> films--not an easy task in Japan.