Hiroshi Nishio (Japanese: 西尾 孔志, Hepburn: Nishio Hiroshi) is a Japanese film director, animator, and writer born in…
Hiroshi Nishio (Japanese: 西尾 孔志, Hepburn: Nishio Hiroshi) is a Japanese film director, animator, and writer born in 1974 in Osaka, where he is currently based. Nishio started his career as an animator on anime including "Moldiver" and the TV series Sosei kishi Gaiasu. As a teenager, he started working on sets of movies by Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku. He moved on from animation, starting off with short films, before making his first feature film National Anthem—a horror film—in 2003. His next movie was the surreal Ochon-chan: Pussy's Adventures in Love and Revolution (Ochonchan no ai to bōken to kakumei おちょんちゃんの愛と冒険と革命) in 2005. Ochon-chan was picked for Osaka's CO2 Film Festival, and then was one of two movies selected from that to feature at the 2005 Raindance Film Festival in London. His most recent film Hakodate Coffee was shot in Hokkaido, Japan, and was based on the manga of the same name. His recent movies are often generally quirky dramas, with a touch of comedy, set in rural Japan. Nishio won the Osaka Film Festival New Director's Award in 2013, for Souru furawâ torein. His most recent movie is the human comedy drama, Shining Star Kuzu.
Famous People from Osaka Prefecture
Osaka Prefecture: 21 people
Ryuhei Kitamura (北村龍平, Kitamura Ryūhei; May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Kitamura…
Ryuhei Kitamura (北村龍平, Kitamura Ryūhei; May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Kitamura relocated to Sydney, Australia at age 17 and attended a school for visual arts for two years. In 1997, Kitamura directed and produced the short film Down to Hell, which received a positive response from students, teachers, and an award which motivated Kitamura to seriously pursue a film career. He went on to independently finance and direct his feature film debut Versus (2000). The film proved to be successful within the film festival circuit and opened doors for Kitamura to direct more high-profile films such as Alive (2002), Sky High (2003), Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), The Midnight Meat Train (2008), No One Lives (2012), the live-action adaptation of Lupin the 3rd (2014), and several other Japanese and Hollywood productions.
Yukiko Mishima (Japanese: 三島有紀子) is a Japanese film director born (1969-04-22)April 22, 1969 in Kita-ku, Osaka. Her…
Yukiko Mishima (Japanese: 三島有紀子) is a Japanese film director born (1969-04-22)April 22, 1969 in Kita-ku, Osaka. Her first feature film, Shisei: Nihohi tsuki no gotoku, based on the Jun'ichirō Tanizaki story "The Tatooer", was released in 2009. She received best director from the Hochi Film Award in 2017 for Dear Etranger, and Special Grand Prix of the Jury award at the Montreal World Film Festival. Shape of Red, an adaptation of Rio Shimamoto's 2014 novel Reddo, was released in 2020. She is a graduate of Kobe College.
Naoyuki Tomomatsu (友松 直之, Tomomatsu Naoyuki) (born 1967) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter who has worked in…
Naoyuki Tomomatsu (友松 直之, Tomomatsu Naoyuki) (born 1967) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter who has worked in the pink film and horror genres.
Shinji Imaoka (今岡信治 or いまおかしんじ, いまおかしんぢ, Imaoka Shinji) a.k.a. 羅門ナカ is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and…
Shinji Imaoka (今岡信治 or いまおかしんじ, いまおかしんぢ, Imaoka Shinji) a.k.a. 羅門ナカ is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of a group of pink film directors of the 2000s known collectively as the "Seven Lucky Gods of Pink" (ピンク七福神, shichifukujin), which besides Imaoka, also includes Toshiya Ueno, Mitsuru Meike, Yūji Tajiri, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshirō Enomoto and Rei Sakamoto.
Fumihiko Sori (曽利 文彦) is a Japanese film director and film producer. He received a nomination for the 'Best Director'…
Fumihiko Sori (曽利 文彦) is a Japanese film director and film producer. He received a nomination for the 'Best Director' prize at the Japanese Academy Awards for his directing debut, Ping Pong.
Sakichi Sato (佐藤 佐吉, Satō Sakichi; born May 12, 1964) is a Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter.
Goro Tameike (溜池ゴロー, Tameike Gorō) is a Japanese adult video (AV) director who has directed more than 450 videos. He…
Goro Tameike (溜池ゴロー, Tameike Gorō) is a Japanese adult video (AV) director who has directed more than 450 videos. He was one of the first exponents of the "mature woman" (熟女, jukujō) genre in AV.
Itsuji Itao (板尾 創路, Itao Itsuji; born July 18, 1963) is a Japanese comedian and actor. He is a member of the comedy duo…
Itsuji Itao (板尾 創路, Itao Itsuji; born July 18, 1963) is a Japanese comedian and actor. He is a member of the comedy duo 130R and former cast member of one of Downtown's previous shows. He usually appears in their batsu games.
Takao Nakano (中野貴雄, Nakano Takao; born May 15, 1962) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor who has worked…
Takao Nakano (中野貴雄, Nakano Takao; born May 15, 1962) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor who has worked in pink film, adult videos (AV), and in mainstream comedy, horror and fantasy films. Film critic Jasper Sharp describes him as one of the few figures in the Japanese erotic film scene who have made a name for themselves overseas.
Yasuhiro Imagawa (今川 泰宏, Imagawa Yasuhiro; born July 24, 1961) is a Japanese anime director and screenwriter.
Takashi Miike (三池 崇史, Miike Takashi; born 24 August 1960) is a Japanese filmmaker and actor. He has directed over 100…
Takashi Miike (三池 崇史, Miike Takashi; born 24 August 1960) is a Japanese filmmaker and actor. He has directed over 100 films and television productions, in a variety of genres such as action, children's films, comedy, drama, horror, musicals, and jidaigeki period dramas. He is best known internationally for the horror films Audition (1999), Ichi the Killer (2001), Visitor Q (2001), Gozu (2003), and One Missed Call (2003). He is also known for samurai and yakuza films such as Dead or Alive (1999), Graveyard of Honor (2002), 13 Assassins (2010), earning a Japan Academy Film Prize nomination for Director of the Year, and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011). He has also acted in more than 20 films. Miike spent much of his career as a controversial figure who had several of his films criticized for their extreme graphic violence and other transgressive content, especially Ichi the Killer, which was banned in several countries. However, in his later career, he shifted towards work more acceptable to the mainstream; his films Hara-Kiri and Straw Shield (2013) were both nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, while both Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) and 13 Assassins were nominated for the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion. Several of his films have developed cult followings.
Junji Sakamoto (阪本 順治, Sakamoto Junji; born October 1, 1958 in Sakai, Osaka) is a Japanese film director.
Joji Tani (Japanese: 谷譲治, Hepburn: Tani Jōji), known as Screaming Mad George (October 7, 1956 – February 10, 2026), was…
Joji Tani (Japanese: 谷譲治, Hepburn: Tani Jōji), known as Screaming Mad George (October 7, 1956 – February 10, 2026), was a Japanese special effects artist, film director and musician. He was born in Osaka, Japan, and emigrated to the United States, where he became known for his surreal, grotesque and gory special effects. He collaborated with director and producer Brian Yuzna on many films.
Kazuki Ōmori (大森 一樹, Ōmori Kazuki; 3 March 1952 – 12 November 2022) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.
Makoto Wada (和田誠, Wada Makoto) (10 April 1936 – 7 October 2019) was a Japanese illustrator, essayist, and film director.
Eizō Sugawa (須川栄三, Sugawa Eizō; September 8, 1930 – October 2, 1998) was a Japanese filmmaker.
Tokuzō Tanaka (田中徳三, Tanaka Tokuzō; 15 September 1920 – 20 December 2007) was a Japanese film director. He is well…
Tokuzō Tanaka (田中徳三, Tanaka Tokuzō; 15 September 1920 – 20 December 2007) was a Japanese film director. He is well known for directing several installments of the Zatoichi and Nemuri Kyōshirō film series.
Tetsuji Takechi (武智 鉄二, Takechi Tetsuji; 10 December 1912 – 26 July 1988) was a Japanese theatrical and film director…
Tetsuji Takechi (武智 鉄二, Takechi Tetsuji; 10 December 1912 – 26 July 1988) was a Japanese theatrical and film director, critic, and author. First coming to prominence for his theatrical criticism, in the 1940s and 1950s he produced influential and popular experimental kabuki plays. Beginning in the mid-1950s, he continued his innovative theatrical work in noh, kyōgen and modern theater. In late 1956 and early 1957 he hosted a popular TV program, The Tetsuji Takechi Hour, which featured his reinterpretations of Japanese stage classics. In the 1960s, Takechi entered the film industry by producing controversial soft-core theatrical pornography. His 1964 film Daydream was the first big-budget, mainstream pink film released in Japan. After the release of his 1965 film Black Snow, the government arrested him on indecency charges. The trial became a public battle over censorship between Japan's intellectuals and the government. Takechi won the lawsuit, enabling the wave of softcore pink films which dominated Japan's domestic cinema during the 1960s and 1970s. In the later 1960s, Takechi produced three more pink films. Takechi did not work in film during most of the 1970s. In the 1980s, he remade Daydream twice, starring actress Kyōko Aizome in both films. The first Daydream remake (1981) is considered the first theatrical hardcore pornographic film in Japan. Though Takechi is largely unknown in Japan today, he was influential in both the cinema and the theater during his lifetime, and his innovations in kabuki were felt for decades. He also helped shape the future of the pink film in Japan through his battles against governmental censorship, earning him the titles, "The Father of Pink" and "The Father of Japanese Porn."
Akira Nobuchi (野淵 昶, Nobuchi Akira, 22 June 1896 - 1 February 1968) was a Japanese stage director and film director. He…
Akira Nobuchi (野淵 昶, Nobuchi Akira, 22 June 1896 - 1 February 1968) was a Japanese stage director and film director. He launched the Elan Vital Shōgekijō little theatre in 1918 while he was at Kyoto Imperial University. He stage-managed plays by Anton Chekhov, Arthur Schnitzler, Lord Dunsany, Lady Gregory, John Millington Synge and Sean O'Casey as well as those by Japanese playwrights including Saneatsu Mushanokōji, Ujaku Akita, Masao Kume and Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. Having left the Elan Vital Shōgekijō in 1933, he entered Shinkō Kinema the following year. He made a debut with talkie Nagasaki Ryūgakusei (1935), after which he made more than 30 films until 1955.
Sanjugo Naoki (直木 三十五, Naoki Sanjūgo) was a pen name of a novelist in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. His real name was…
Sanjugo Naoki (直木 三十五, Naoki Sanjūgo) was a pen name of a novelist in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. His real name was Sōichi Uemura (植村 宗一, Uemura Sōichi).