Japanese Women Director

[Aaron Gerow]

> 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.


Aaron Gerow
KineJapan owner

Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University

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