Shōichirō Sasaki

Shōichirō Sasaki (佐々木昭一郎, Sasaki Shōichirō, January 25, 1936 – June 14, 2024)[1] was a Japanese filmmaker.

Shōichirō Sasaki
佐々木昭一郎
Born(1936-01-25)January 25, 1936
Tokyo, Japan
DiedJune 14, 2024(2024-06-14) (aged 88)
NationalityJapanese
OccupationFilmmaker
Notable workDream Island Girl
Four Seasons: Utopiano
River series

Biography

Sasaki was born on January 25, 1936, in Tokyo, Japan. During World War II, Sasaki was frequently evacuated to the countryside.[2] 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.[3]

Sasaki graduated from Rikkyo University and was hired by NHK in 1960, and began directing radio dramas.[2] 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.[4] 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.[2][5] After retiring from NHK in 1995, Sasaki worked as a professor at Bunkyo University until 2005.[2] 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.[3][5]

Selected filmography
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
  1. 佐々木昭一郎氏が死去　ドラマ「四季・ユートピアノ」 (in Japanese)
  2. Toda, Keita (2016), Worksites of Long-Standing Maestros: Shoichiro Sakai (Film Maker) —Narratives Woven from Inner Memories— (PDF), NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute
  3. 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.
  4. Ridgely, Steven C. (2010). Japanese Counterculture: The Antiestablishment Art of Terayama Shūji. University of Minnesota Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-8166-6753-6.
  5. Severns, Karen (2014-10-08). "Film Committee Blog: Harmonics Minyoung". Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
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