Shunya Itō

Shunya Itō (伊藤 俊也, Itō Shun'ya, born February 17, 1937) is a Japanese film director known for starting the Sasori / Female Prisoner Scorpion series of 1970s exploitation films starring Meiko Kaji. Itō worked for Toei Company for most of his career. In 1972, he won a Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Citation for his first film, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion.

He won Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards in 1985 with his film Gray Sunset, a story of a man suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This thus became Japan's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film instead of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, which caused a slight uproar in Western media as many critics thought Ran had a real chance of winning whereas Gray Sunset was not even shortlisted. (Galbraith)

In 1995, he directed Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus. In 1998, he directed the World War II drama Pride: The Fateful Moment, presenting a humane view of Hideki Tōjō on trial at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

Selected filmography

• Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972) (女囚７０１号 さそり)
• Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972) (女囚さそり 第４１雑居房)
• Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973) (女囚さそり けもの部屋)
• Inugami no tatari (1977) (犬神の悪霊)
• To Trap a Kidnapper (1982) (誘拐報道)
• Hakujasho (1983) (白蛇抄)
• Gray Sunset (1985) (花いちもんめ)
• Labyrinth of Flower Garden (1988) (花園の迷宮)
• Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus (1995) (ルパン三世 くたばれ！ノストラダムス)
• Pride: The Fateful Moment (1998) (プライド 運命の瞬間)