Ooshima, Nagisa

Died: January 15, 2013

Nagisa Ooshima was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He was a prominent figure in the Japanese new wave which was a group of loosely connected Japanese filmmakers during the late 1950s and 1970s. Although they did not make up a coherent movement, these directors shared a rejection to the traditional conventions of classical Japanese cinema, favoring more challenging works—both thematically and formally. Coming to the fore in a time of national social change and social unrest, these films dealt with taboo subject matter, including sexual violence, radicalism, youth culture and deliquency, Korean discrimination, and the aftermath of World War II. They also adopted an unorthodox and experimental approach to composition, editing and narrative. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut with Ai to Kibou no Machi (愛と希望の街, A Town of Love and Hope) in 1959.

(Source: Wikipedia)