Ten Nights of Dreams

Born on November 20, 1915, in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Ichikawa first gained western recognition during the 1950s and 60s with several bleak films, particularly two acclaimed antiwar films, The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain.

Ichikawa began his career as a cartoonist, and collaborated with his wife, screenwriter Natto WADA, until 1965. His films are generally regarded as dark and bleak, interspersed with sparks of humanity, and he often intertwines comedy and tragedy within the same story. He also has a flair for technical expertise, irony, detachment, and a drive for realism across all genres. After Akira KUROSAWA’s departure, no other Japanese director has come close to Ichikawa’s level of recognition, the power of his films, and commercial success.

Ichikawa passed away on February 13, 2008. At age 91 (2006), he was still active as a director, completing a feature-length film, The Inugamis, and directing one segment of the Japanese fantasy, Ten Nights of Dream. Partly because of his eclectic style, which has produced incredibly varied but consistently magnificent films, Ichikawa has received almost 30 film awards, including but not limited to:

The Burmese Harp (1956) – WINNER Venice Film Festival San Giorgio Prize, NOMINEE US Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film.

Fires on the Plain (1959) WINNER Locarno Int. Film Fest.Golden Sail Award, WINNER Blue Ribbon Award Best Director, Best Cinematography.

Kagi (1960) – WINNER Cannes Film Fest. Jury Prize, WINNER Golden Globe Best Foreign Film, WINNER Blue Ribbon Award Best Director, NOMINEE Cannes Film Fest. Palme D’or.

Tokyo Olympiad (1965) – - WINNER Cannes Film Fest. Prize of the International Union of Film Critics Special Prize the Best Film for Youth, WINNER BAFTA Awards Flaherty Documentary Award, UN Award.

2000 RECIPIENT Berlin Int. Film Fest. Berlinale Camera Award.

2001 RECIPIENT Montreal World Film Fest. Life Achievement Award. —AnimEigo

Akio Jissoji (実相寺昭雄 Jissōji Akio?) (March 29, 1937, Tokyo – November 29, 2006, Tokyo) was a Japanese TV and film director best known outside of Japan for the 1960s TV series Ultraman and Ultra Seven, as well as for his auteur erotic ATG-produced Buddhist trilogy Mujō (無常)—Mandala (曼陀羅)—Uta (哥).

He was also known for his film adaptations of Japanese horror author, Rampo Edogawa. Jissoji possessed a very distinctive visual style that was notable even in Japanese cinema which is known internationally for its visual style. Every project he directed, from children’s action shows to the most disturbing adult films had an uncompromising approach to cinematic story telling. His episodes of the Ultraman TV shows are unique and quite unusual for children’s television. His career is also unusual in that he went back and forth from children’s television to film projects that were sexually provocative in some way or another. It’s perhaps this aspect of his work that has prevented wider distribution of his films. Sado-masochistic and non-consensual sexual practices are featured in many of his film works with women receiving the brunt of the abuse. Another recurring theme was to pull the camera back and reveal the set his actors were working on. Most of his work is not available outside of Japan or with English subtitles.

Other notable films include: Utamaro: Yume to shiriseba (歌麿 夢と知りせば, Utamaro’s World, 1977), a visually sumptous telling of the famed Japanese printmaker’s life centering around the years he was forced to make pornographic prints for a living. Teito monogatari (帝都物語, Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis, 1988), a live-action sci-fi/horror film. Rampo jigoku (乱歩地獄, 2005), Jissoji directed the lead segment of this horror anthology. Yume jū-ya (ユメ十夜, Ten Nights of Dreams, 2006), Jissoji contributed a selection in this anthology of short films based on the writings of Natsume Sōseki.

He died of stomach cancer, aged 69, in 2006 just after starting work on a revival of his Silver Mask live action children’s show. —Wikipedia

Japanese director Takashi Shimizu’s first experience in film was working part-time at a Kyoto movie theater, while writing scripts in his spare time. Several years of freelancing as an assistant director followed and in 1997 he enrolled at the Film School of Tokyo.

A short film project he did for school attracted the attention of director Kyoshi Kurosawa and screenwriter Hiroshi Takashi. They introduced him to producer Taka Ichise, who had been asked to produce a series of horror stories for a cell phone company. He asked the young director to give him some ideas of what might scare him and this process launched the beginning of the Ju-on horror movie series.

Four Japanese Ju-on movies later, Shimizu directed his first American-produced feature — The Grudge (2004), an English-language version of his hit film, Ju-on: The Grudge — starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as an American in Japan.

Shimizu won a Crystal Skull Award at Screamfest for Ju-on: The Grudge (2003). —tribute.ca