Shunya Itō (伊藤 俊也, Itō Shun'ya, born February 17, 1937) is a Japanese film director known for starting the Sasori / Female Prisoner Scorpion series of 1970s exploitation films starring Meiko Kaji. Itō worked for Toei Company for most of his career. In 1972, he won a Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Citation for his first film, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion.[1]
Shunya Itō | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 17, 1937 |
| Occupation | Film director |
He won Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards in 1985 with his film Gray Sunset,[2] a story of a man suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This thus became Japan's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film instead of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, which caused a slight uproar in Western media as many critics thought Ran had a real chance of winning whereas Gray Sunset was not even shortlisted. (Galbraith)
In 1995, he directed Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus. In 1998, he directed the World War II drama Pride: The Fateful Moment, presenting a sympathetic view of Hideki Tōjō on trial at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, attracting accusations of revisionism.
Selected filmography edit
- Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972) (女囚７０１号 さそり)
- Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972) (女囚さそり 第４１雑居房)
- Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973) (女囚さそり けもの部屋)
- Inugami no tatari (1977) (犬神の悪霊)
- To Trap a Kidnapper (1982) (誘拐報道)
- Hakujasho (1983) (白蛇抄)
- Gray Sunset (1985) (花いちもんめ)
- Labyrinth of Flower Garden (1988) (花園の迷宮)
- Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus (1995) (ルパン三世 くたばれ！ノストラダムス)
- Pride: The Fateful Moment (1998) (プライド 運命の瞬間)
- Independence of Japan (2020)
Notes edit
- ^ "Nihon Eiga Kantoku Kyōkai Shinjinshō" (in Japanese). Directors Guild of Japan. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
- ^ "Awards for Hana ichimonme (1985)" (in Japanese). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
References edit
- Galbraith, Stuart, IV. The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. Faber & Faber, 2002. ISBN 0-571-19982-8
- Shunya Ito at IMDb
- JMDb Listing (Japanese)