The cinema of Japan, also known domestically as hōga, has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011, Japan produced 411 feature films that earned 54.9% of a box office total of US$2.338 billion. Films have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived.
Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films The Burmese Harp (1956) and Fires on the Plain (1959), to the documentary Tokyo Olympiad (1965), which won two BAFTA Film Awards, and the 19th-century revenge drama An Actor's Revenge (1963). His film Odd Obsession (1959) won the Jury Prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.
Shōhei Imamura was a Japanese film director. His main interest as a filmmaker lay in the depiction of the lower strata of Japanese society. A key figure in the Japanese New Wave, who continued working into the 21st century, Imamura is the only director from Japan to win two Palme d'Or awards.
Kinuyo Tanaka was a Japanese actress and film director. She had a career lasting over 50 years with more than 250 acting credits, but was best known for her 15 films with director Kenji Mizoguchi, such as The Life of Oharu (1952) and Ugetsu (1953). With her 1953 directorial debut, Love Letter, Tanaka became the second Japanese woman to direct a film, after Tazuko Sakane.
Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include Children of Hiroshima, The Naked Island, Onibaba, Kuroneko and A Last Note. His screenplays were filmed by directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kōzaburō Yoshimura, Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Seijun Suzuki, and Tadashi Imai.
Kaori Momoi is a Japanese actress.
Sayuri Yoshinaga is a Japanese actress and activist. She has won four Japan Academy Best Actress awards, more than any other actress, and has been called "one of the foremost stars in the postwar world of film."
Endless Desire is a 1958 Japanese black comedy and crime film by Shōhei Imamura.
A Man Vanishes is a 1967 Japanese pseudo documentary film by director Shōhei Imamura about a film team's search for a man reported missing.
The Japanese New Wave is a term for a group of loosely-connected Japanese films and filmmakers between the late 1950s and the early 1970s. The most prominent representatives include directors Nagisa Ōshima, Yoshishige Yoshida, Masahiro Shinoda and Shōhei Imamura.
Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute (からゆきさん) is a 1973 Japanese television documentary film by director Shōhei Imamura. It tells the story of a karayuki-san, a term for Japanese women who were sent to foreign Asian countries to serve as prostitutes. Imamura interviews a 73-year-old woman who was sent to Malaysia and forced into prostitution.
The Kon Ichikawa Story, also known as A Filmful Life, is a 2006 documentary directed by Japanese director Shunji Iwai about the life of iconic and prolific Japanese director Kon Ichikawa. The documentary also devotes time to Natto Wada, Ichikawa's wife, who wrote many of his screenplays.
Eiji Funakoshi was a Japanese actor. He received the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actor and the Mainichi Film Concours for Best Actor for his performance in Fires on the Plain.
Isuzu Yamada was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career spanned seven decades.
The Approach of Autumn, also titled Autumn Has Already Started, is a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse.
47 Ronin is a 1994 Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa. The film is another version of the Chūshingura, the story of the revenge of the forty-seven rōnin of Ako against Lord Kira.
Sanezumi Fujimoto was a Japanese film producer. He served as the head of production for Toho Studios. He was co-producer of Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. He also produced many other films, including Yasujirō Ozu's The End of Summer, Kihachi Okamoto's The Sword of Doom and Japan's Longest Day and several films directed by Mikio Naruse.
Sanae Takasugi was a Japanese film and television actress. She starred in over 80 films, directed by notable filmmakers like Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, and Keisuke Kinoshita.
The Heart, also titled Love Betrayed, is a 1973 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō. It is based on the 1914 novel Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki.
