Shōichirō Sasaki
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Shōichirō Sasaki | |
|---|---|
佐々木昭一郎 | |
| Born | January 25, 1936 |
| Died | June 14, 2024 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Notable work | Dream Island Girl Four Seasons: Utopiano River series |
Shōichirō Sasaki (佐々木昭一郎, Sasaki Shōichirō, January 25, 1936 – June 14, 2024) was a Japanese filmmaker.
Biography[edit]
Sasaki was born on January 25, 1936, in Tokyo, Japan. During World War II, Sasaki was frequently evacuated to the countryside.[1] His father, Shūichirō, was a freelance journalist who had been fired in 1930 after criticizing the Japanese military. After working in Manchukuo under surveillance by the Special Higher Police, Shūichirō returned to Tokyo in July 1943. According to Shōichirō, his father began to bleed from the mouth and collapsed after eating a peach from a vendor while they were travelling to his father's native Miyagi Prefecture. His father was then hauled away by secret police agents disguised as sailors, and died in custody.[2]
Sasaki graduated from Rikkyo University and was hired by NHK in 1960, and began directing radio dramas.[1] He collaborated with Shūji Terayama on the 1966 radio drama Comet Ikeya, Terayama adding a fictional narrative to Sasaki's interviews with amateur astronomer Kaoru Ikeya.[3] Sasaki directed several films for NHK, beginning with the 1969 film Mother. His films won multiple awards and enjoyed support primarily from young viewers, influencing future directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Naomi Kawase and Shinya Tsukamoto.[1][4] After retiring from NHK in 1995, Sasaki worked as a professor at Bunkyo University until 2005.[1] His first and only feature film, Harmonics Minyoung, is an anti-war quasi-documentary musical in Japanese, Korean and English, with period scenes based on his own wartime experiences including the death of his father.[2][4]
Sasaki died on June 14, 2024, at the age of 88.[5]
Selected filmography[edit]
| Mother | マザー | 1970 |
| Wanderer | さすらい | 1971 |
| Dream Island Girl | 夢の島少女 | 1974 |
| Red Flowers | 紅い花 | 1976 |
| Four Seasons: Utopiano | 四季・ユートピアノ | 1980 |
| The Flow of a River, the Sound of a Violin | 川の流れはバイオリンの音 | 1981 |
| Rainbow of Andalusia | アンダルシアの虹 | 1981 |
| Spring: the Light of Sound | 春・音の光 | 1984 |
| Tokyo on the City | 東京 オン・ザ・シティー | 1986 |
| Summer Album | 夏のアルバム | 1986 |
| Under the Shade of a Coolabah Tree | クーリバの木の下で | 1987 |
| The Sound of the Bell–from Prague to Hiroshima | 鐘のひびき 〜プラハからヒロシマへ | 1988 |
| Nanairo Village | 七色村 | 1989 |
| Jan Letzel Apocalypse–The Man Who Built the Hiroshima Dome | ヤン・レツル物語 〜広島ドームを建てた男 | 1991 |
| Paradise of Paradise: The Sound of Mother | パラダイス オブ パラダイス 〜母の声〜 | 1993 |
| The Screams of August | 八月の叫び | 1995 |
| Harmonics Minyoung | ミンヨン 倍音の法則 | 2014 |
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Toda, Keita (2016), Worksites of Long-Standing Maestros: Shoichiro Sakai (Film Maker) —Narratives Woven from Inner Memories— (PDF), NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute
- ^ a b Kawabata, Tai (2016-08-10). "Filmmaker depicts father's slaying by 'wartime yakuza' in debut feature film". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 2016-08-10.
- ^ Ridgely, Steven C. (2010). Japanese Counterculture: The Antiestablishment Art of Terayama Shūji. University of Minnesota Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-8166-6753-6.
- ^ a b Severns, Karen (2014-10-08). "Film Committee Blog: Harmonics Minyoung". Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
- ^ 佐々木昭一郎氏が死去 ドラマ「四季・ユートピアノ」 (in Japanese)