Japan’s Emerging Directors: With a Couple of Films on Their Resumes, These Auteurs Are Poised to Make Bigger Marks on World Cinema

Danzuka dropped out of the faculty of environment and information studies at Keio University and completed the fiction course at the Film School of Tokyo.

His graduation film, “After the Night on the Bridge,” screened at the Nara International Film Festival and other festivals around Japan. His first feature, “Brand New Landscape,” has been selected for the Directors’ Fortnight section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Directors’ Fortnight artistic director Julien Regé has said that in its depiction of family and parent-child relationships the film “recalls the richness and beauty of [Yasujiro] Ozu’s films.” Indeed, Danzuka is currently working on a documentary about Ozu that he says is “about to be completed.”

Kawawada shot her first film, the 2012 “Circles,” while a student at Waseda University. In 2014 she joined Bun-Buku, the production company of Kore-eda Hirokazu, and worked as his assistant director on the 2017 courtroom drama “The Third Murder.” Her 2022 feature debut, “My Small Land,” a drama about a Kurdish family’s life in Japan, premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation Kplus section and screened widely abroad.

Kawawada also directed three episodes of the 2024 miniseries “The Night After the Divorce,” which is based on a popular webtoon on Japan’s Line platform.

Hayakawa studied photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. After graduation, she worked for the TV Tokyo network at its the New York office. Returning to Japan in 2008, she found employment at a subcontractor of the Wowow entertainment channel’s film department.

In her mid-30s, she began attending the ENBU Seminar film school in Tokyo. Her graduation film, “Niagara,” screened in the Cinéfondation section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Her debut feature, the 2022 sci-fi “Plan 75,” was selected for Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, where it received a Camera d’Or special mention. Her latest film, the coming-of-age drama “Renoir,” will open in Japan on June 20. She has also been chosen for the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Arts Council Film Frontier Residency Program, which will give four emerging filmmakers opportunities for overseas residency to develop their scripts with mentors of the host institution. She will be in Paris for the residency.

Igarashi began making short films while studying at Tokyo’s Zokei University. His first feature, “Voice of Rain That Comes at Night,” screened at the Cinema Digital Seoul festival, where it won the Korean Critics’ Prize. He entered the graduate school of the Tokyo University of the Arts and his graduation film, “Hold Your Breath Like a Lover,” was selected for the 67th Locarno Film Festival.

In 2017, a film he co-directed with Damien Manivel, “The Night I Swam,” screened in the Orrizonti section of the Venice Film Festival and the Zabaltegi section of the San Sebastian Film Festival.

His latest film, the 2024 romantic drama “Super Happy Forever,” was also selected by Venice and San Sebastian, as well as other festivals abroad. It opened in Japan in September.

Okuyama made a short for pubcaster NHK’s “Iwai Shunji’s Movie Lab” program while a student at Aoyama Gakuin University. After graduation he attended the Film School of Tokyo. His graduation project, the 2019 “Jesus,” about a boy who befriends a thumb-sized version of the Savior, won the Kutxabank-New Directors Award at the San Sebastian film festival. Okuyama was the youngest director to receive this honor. His follow-up, the gay-themed skating drama “My Sunshine,” premiered in Un Certain Regard at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It was released in Japan in September.

Okuyama has also directed episodes of the 2023 Netflix drama “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House” under the supervision of Kore-eda Hirokazu.

The son of famed composer and musician Sakamoto Ryuichi, Sora was born in New York City and was raised in New York and Tokyo. He graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in philosophy and film studies.

In 2020, his short “The Chicken” premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and subsequently screened at the New York Film Festival and AFI Fest. His 2023 feature, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” a documentary about his father’s last concert, premiered at the Venice Film Festival. In 2024 his dystopian sci-fi “Happyend” screened in the Orizzonti section of the Venice festival. It was released in Japan in October 2024 and is scheduled open in the U.S. on June 20.

Yamanaka entered Nihon University College of Art but withdrew before completing her degree. Her debut feature, “Amiko,” won the Audience Award at the 2017 Pia Film Festival and was screened at the Berlin Film Festival. At age 20, she was the youngest director to ever be invited to Berlin.

Her 2024 drama, “Desert of Namibia,” starring Kawai Yuumi as a self-centered 21-year-old hair removal technician, was selected for the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize, making her the youngest filmmaker to ever receive this honor. The film was released in Japan in September 2024. Yamanaka has also directed episodes of the TV series “Dakara Watashi wa Meiku-suru” (2020) and “Konya Sukiyaki Dayo” (2023).

Ota graduated from Waseda University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences where he studied philosophy and narratology. His first full-length documentary film, “The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed,” screened at the 2013 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and was distributed in 12 countries over the world.    

He has also appeared as an actor in both his own films and the work of others, including his 2014 feature, “Fragile,” and the 2015 miniseries “Yume Wo Ataeru.” Among his other works as a director are the 2021 documentary “Imagination,” episodes of the 2021 Wowow series “Food Trucker Minami Minegishi” and the 2022 COVID-themed short “At Kinosaki.” His doc “Numakage Public Pool” won the First Cut+ Works in Progress Award at Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2024, and he is currently developing “The Chimney Sweeper.”

Born in Tokyo but raised in Singapore, Nakanishi served as an assistant director for arthouse auteur Eric Khoo but has since worked mainly in the horror genre.

Her 2018 short, “Hana,” was shot in South Korea and screened widely on the international festival circuit, including Sitges and Bifan. She followed up with the horror shorts “Swallow” (2021) and “Border” (2023) and a segment of the horror anthology “Etheria Film Night 2023.” Nakanishi is also the founder of Scream Queen FilmFest Tokyo, the only female-centric genre festival in Asia.

A participant in BIFF’s Asian Film Academy 2016, Berlinale Talents Tokyo 2023 and Sundance/NHK Script lab 2024, Nakanishi is now developing her first feature film, “Child, Univited.”

Born in 1975 in Okayama, Hasei left for Tokyo after graduating from high school. There he busked and sold rings on the street while crashing with acquaintances. Together with a roommate who was a butoh dancer and photographer, he launched a gallery where they exhibited photographs on a variety of themes.

Hasei extended his activities abroad, working as a still photographer on Sergei Bodrov’s 2007 epic “Mongol” and directing the 2009 short “Godog,” about street children in the Philippines. The film won the Grand Prix (Golden Egg Award) at the Kustendorf International Film and Music Festival in Serbia. His 2015 feature debut, “Blanka,” whose title character is a street girl in Manila, screened in the Venice Biennale College section, where it won the Laterna Magica and Sorriso Diverso Venezia prizes. He is developing “Kutheran” in collaboration with Flaminio Zadra of Dorji Film.