Naomi Kawase

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Western name order Template:Infobox person

Naomi Kawase (Template:Pronunciation; Template:Langx; born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director. She was also briefly known as Template:Nihongo, with her former husband's surname. Many of her works have been documentaries, including Embracing, about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and Katatsumori, about the grandmother who raised her.

Early life and education

Growing up in the rural region of Nara, Kawase's parents split early on in her childhood, leaving her to be raised by her great-aunt, with whom she held a combative, yet loving, relationship.<ref name= "Karatsu">Karatsu 2009, p. 168.</ref>

She originally attended the Template:Nihongo<ref name= match/> to study television production, but she became interested in film and decided to switch her focus.<ref name = "Kawase Naomi">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was a student of Shunji Dodo at the college. She graduated in 1989.<ref name= match>Template:Citation.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>

Career

After graduating, she spent an additional four years at the college as a lecturer before releasing Embracing. Employing her interest in autobiography, most of her first short films focus on her turbulent family history, including her abandonment and her father's death.<ref name = "An Interview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Many of her first forays into filmmaking were autobiographical, inspired heavily by the rural landscape.<ref name="Karatsu"/>

Between 1994 and 1996, she released a trilogy of films about her great-aunt: Katatsumori, See Heaven and Sun on the Horizon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She novelized her films Suzaku and Firefly.

In 2006, she released the forty-minute documentary Tarachime, which she prefers to be screened before her film from the following year. Tarachime revisits Kawase's relationship with her great-aunt, tackling very personal themes such as her aunt's growing dementia.<ref name="An Interview"/>

Kawase completed production on her fourth full-length film The Mourning Forest (Mogari no Mori), which premièred in June 2007 in her hometown Nara and went on to win the Grand Prix at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="cannes-2007.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Her 2011 film Hanezu premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name = "Cannes2011">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name = "guardian.co.uk">Template:Cite news</ref>

Pop star Hikaru Utada asked Kawase to create the music video for her 2012 single Template:Nihongo, later to be included on Utada's 2016 album Fantôme.

In 2013 Kawase was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Her 2014 film Still the Water was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="Cannes2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her 2015 film Sweet Bean was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="2015Cannes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In April 2016 she was announced as the president of the jury for the Cinéfondation and short films section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On October 23, 2018, it was announced that Kawase had been selected by the IOC to shoot the official film for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Released in 2022, the two-part film places the 2020 Olympics within the wider context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mixed reactions to the games from Japanese society.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Controversies

On December 26, 2021, the NHK aired a documentary about the production behind Kawase's 2020 Olympics documentary. Footage and captions alleged that protesters were paid money to attend anti-Olympics demonstrations as part of larger opposition against the games. One of the men interviewed later stated he was "unsure" if he had actually attended any anti-Olympics rallies. NHK Osaka cited "editorial oversights" and "deficiencies in research", issuing an apology. They denied that the footage was deliberately fabricated to be misleading.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On January 13, 2022, the NHK Osaka director Terunobu Maeda apologized during a press conference, admitting that the captions "should not have been included". Again he denied that the incident was a fabrication.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On February 10, 2022 NHK Osaka announced an internal review and fired 6 production staff members. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2022, Shūkan Bunshun reported that Kawase kicked a camera assistant in the stomach while filming True Mothers in May 2019, leading cinematographer Yūta Tsukinaga and his team to resign mid-production. Kawase did not deny the allegation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In May 2022, the magazine also reported that she assaulted an employee at her production company, Kumie, in October 2015. The employee was reportedly punched in the face with a closed fist and chased through the office by Kawase. Later that day the employee gathered his belongings from the office and quit. When interviewed by Shūkan Bunshun he stated, "It's true that I was punched by Kawase-san. It's something that occurred in the past and is not something I will comment about publicly."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Kawase denied both allegations and claimed the matters were handled internally.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Styles and themes

Kawase's work is heavily concerned with the distorted space between fiction and non-fiction that has occurred within the state of modern Japanese society, approaching "fiction with a documentarian's gaze."<ref>Yamane 2002.</ref> She employs this documentary-realism to focus on individuals of lesser cultural status, challenging prevailing representations of women within the male-dominated Japanese film industry.<ref name="Karatsu"/> This theme is also connected to her own personal reflections on contemporary issues in the current climate of economic depression such as the declining birthrate, alienation, and the collapse of traditional family structures.<ref>Karatsu 2009, p. 167.</ref>

She frequently shoots on location with amateur actors.<ref name="Karatsu"/>

Kawase's style also invokes the autobiographical practices related to documentary style. Familiar and personal objects such as childhood photographs, and to explore her family history and identity. Her work reflects the personal, intimate, and domestic. Themes that are often associated with feminist practices and Women's Cinema.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>

However, Kawase herself does not classify as a feminist due to Japanese feminism's tendency to persist collective identity and view women's problems through a narrow ideological lens. Instead, she looks at gender as a creative and fluid realm, rather than as a negative fixation. Kawase explains:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

It is extremely difficult for us to observe our own life, as it involves looking into the embarrassing or undesirable aspects of ourselves. In a way, being a woman made it easier for me to look closely at my own environment. Women tend to be more intuitive and rely more on their senses, or it might be due to gender status differences in Japan ... Not being in the mainstream or the center, she can make new discoveries. In my case, I will create things from the sources within myself. I believe that at the depth of the personal there is something universal. [Sento 1999: 47]<ref name=":0" />{{#if:|

|}}{{#if:|

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Kawase's films challenge cinematic conventions.<ref name=":0" /> Her subjects are primarily family and friends, and she frequently depicts the relationships between the filmmaker and the subject, and is self-reflexive of her own thoughts and emotions in her works.

Awards

She became the youngest winner of the la Caméra d'Or award (best new director) at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for her first 35mm film, Suzaku.

This is a list of some of her awards:<ref>Template:Citation.</ref>

  • 1997: Camera D'Or, Cannes International Film Festival: Suzaku
  • 1999: Special Mention Prize, Vision du Reel: The Weald
  • 2000: FIPRESCI Prize: Hotaru
  • 2000: CICAE Prize: Hotaru
  • 2000: Best Achievement Award in Cinematography and Directing, Buenos Aires International Film Festival: Hotaru
  • 2007: Special Prize, Yamagata International Film Festival: Tarachime
  • 2007: Grand Prix, Cannes International Film Festival: The Mourning Forest
  • 2015: Chevalier Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Kawase's work was originally produced in various media: 8mm film, 16mm film, 35mm film, and video.<ref>Template:Citation.</ref> Template:Div col

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>IOC (2022) Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 premieres at the Festival de Cannes</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Template:Div col end

References

Template:Reflist

Sources

Template:Sister project 

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0442905|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm0442905/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+Kawase+Naomi%0A++++++%7C+Kawase+Naomi%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if: 0442905  {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: Kawase Naomi
 | Kawase Naomi
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 0442905{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=0442905|plain=false}} 

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}

Template:Authority control

Template:Naomi Kawase Template:Navboxes

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Naomi_Kawase&oldid=290894"