Masaki Kobayashi

Masaki Kobayashi
Born (1916-02-14)February 14, 1916
Otaru, Hokkaidō, Japan
Died October 4, 1996(1996-10-04) (aged 80)
Tokyo, Japan
Occupation Film director, producer, writer

Masaki Kobayashi (小林 正樹 Kobayashi Masaki?, February 14, 1916 – October 4, 1996) was a Japanese film director.

Career

Among his films is Kwaidan (1965), a collection of four ghost stories drawn from the book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn, each of which has a surprise ending. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival,[1] and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.[2]

Kobayashi also directed The Human Condition, a trilogy on the effects of World War II on a Japanese pacifist and socialist. The total length of the films is over nine hours. Other notable films include Harakiri (1962) and Samurai Rebellion (1967). Harakiri won him an award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, solidifying his place in the history of cinema.

In 1969, he was a member of the jury at the 19th Berlin International Film Festival.[3]

He was also a candidate for directing the Japanese sequences for Tora! Tora! Tora!, once Akira Kurosawa left the film. But instead Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda were chosen.

Personal life

Kobayashi, himself a pacifist, was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. His way of resisting was to refuse promotion to a rank higher than private.[4]

Filmography

References

External links