Akihiko Shiota

Japanese film director and screenwriter (born 1961)

Akihiko Shiota
Born	(1961-09-11) 11 September 1961 (age 62) Maizuru, Kyoto, Japan
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1982–present

Akihiko Shiota (塩田明彦, Shiota Akihiko) (born 11 September 1961, Maizuru, Kyoto^[1]) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter.

Career

Shiota attended Rikkyo University, where he was in a film club with other students such as Makoto Shinozaki and Shinji Aoyama^[2] and began making 8mm films in the tradition of other Rikkyo students like Kiyoshi Kurosawa. His independently made films were recognized at the Pia Film Festival and he began writing film criticism and working as an assistant for Kurosawa and other filmmakers.^[1]^[3] He also studied screenwriting under Atsushi Yamatoya, who wrote scenarios for Seijun Suzuki, and worked as the cinematographer for films by Takayoshi Yamaguchi.^[1]^[3]

His first two films as a director, Moonlight Whispers and Don't Look Back, were both released in 1999 and earned Shiota the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award.^[4] Don't Look Back also won the Jury Prize at the Three Continents Festival.^[5] Harmful Insect (2002) screened at the Venice Film Festival and earned two more awards at the Three Continents Festival.^[6] His first major commercial film, Yomigaeri, was the fourth biggest grossing Japanese film of 2003.^[7] Canary, his 2005 film inspired by the killings of Aum Shinrikyo in 1995, won the top prize at the Raindance Film Festival.^[8] Dororo, based on a manga by Osamu Tezuka, was the eighth top-grossing Japanese film of 2007.^[9]

Style and influence

In a San Francisco Bay Guardian interview, Shiota talked about his influences: "Sam Peckinpah, Robert Aldrich, and Don Siegel were directors that I'd admired as the gods of movies since I was in elementary school. [...] In terms of films using youth as protagonists, I love the works by Vitali Kanevsky, the Russian filmmaker. [...] I also have deep admiration for Richard Fleischer and Joseph Losey."^[10]

Filmography

Moonlight Whispers (1999)
Don't Look Back (1999)
Gips (2001)
Harmful Insect (2002)
Yomigaeri (2003)
Canary (2005)
A Heartful of Love (2005)
Dororo (2007)
Dakishimetai: Shinjitsu no Monogatari (2014)
Wet Woman in the Wind^[11] (2016)
Farewell Song (2019)
The World with Maki (2022)^[12]
Picture of Spring (2023)^[13]

Bibliography

Eigajutsu: Sono Enshutsu wa Naze Kokoro o Tsukamunoka (2014)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Akihiko Shiota". Nippon Cinema. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
^ Mes, Tom (21 November 2001). "Midnight Eye interview: Akihiko Shiota". Midnight Eye.
^ ^a ^b Ōba, Masaaki (March 2005). "Shiota Akihiko intabyū". Criss Cross (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 December 2010.
^ "Nihon Eiga Kantoku Kyōkai Shinjinshō" (in Japanese). Directors Guild of Japan. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
^ "21ème Festival des 3 Continents, 1999" (in French). Festival des 3 Continents. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
^ "23ème Festival des 3 Continents" (in French). Festival des 3 Continents. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
^ "Kako kōgyō shūnyū jōi sakuhin: 2003-nen" (in Japanese). Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
^ "'Canary' sings at Raindance fest". Variety. 10 October 2005.
^ "Kako kōgyō shūnyū jōi sakuhin: 2007-nen" (in Japanese). Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
^ Huston, Johnny Ray. "A film for trapped things". San Francisco Bay Guardian.
^ Kenny, Glenn (16 November 2017). "Review: 'Wet Woman in the Wind' is a Queasy Sex Romp". The New York Times.
^ "塩田明彦の新作「麻希のいる世界」2022年1月公開、新谷ゆづみと日高麻鈴がW主演". Natalie. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
^ "春画先生". eiga.com. Retrieved 25 May 2023.