Quick Facts
Biography
Mitsuo Yanagimachi (柳町光男, Yanagimachi Mitsuo, born November 2, 1945) is a Japanese screenwriter and film director.
Career
Born in Namegata District, Ibaraki, Yanagimachi attended the Faculty of Law at Waseda University but began studying filmmaking. Working as a freelance assistant director after graduating, he started his own production company in 1974 and produced the documentary film God Speed You! Black Emperor (1976) about bōsōzoku. He made his fiction film debut in 1979 with Jūkyūsai no Chizu. That and the later Himatsuri were based on novels by Kenji Nakagami. His 1982 work Saraba Itoshiki Daichi showed in the Competition at the Berlin Film Festival. His films have often focused on youth (Who's Camus Anyway?), on ethnic minorities in Japan (Ai ni Tsuite, Tokyo), as well as on Asia (Shadow of China and the documentary Tabisuru Pao-jiang-hu).
Yanagimachi was awarded the Geijutsu Senshō Prize in 1985 by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Filmography as director
- God Speed You! Black Emperor (1976; documentary)
- Jūkyūsai no Chizu (A 19-Year-Old's Map) (1979)
- Saraba Itoshiki Daichi (Farewell to the Land) (1982)
- Himatsuri (Fire Festival) (1985)
- Shadow of China (1990)
- Ai ni Tsuite, Tokyo (About Love, Tokyo) (1992)
- Tabisuru Pao-jiang-hu (Travelling Medicine Peddlers) (1995; documentary)
- Who's Camus Anyway? (2005)
Awards
| Year | Award | Film | Festival |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Best New Director | Jūkyūsai no Chizu | Yokohama Film Festival |
| 1985 | Ernest Artaria Award | Himatsuri | Locarno International Film Festival |
| 1986 | Rotterdam Award | Himatsuri | Rotterdam International Film Festival |
| 1992 | Interfilm Award - Honorable Mention | Ai ni tsuite, Tokyo | Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival |
| 1992 | Special Jury Prize | Ai ni tsuite, Tokyo | Tokyo International Film Festival |
| 2005 | Japanese Eyes: Best Film | Kamyu nante shiranai | Tokyo International Film Festival |