Hirokazu Kore-eda

Koreeda's father was born in Taiwan. Koreeda's paternal grandparents could not marry under Japanese law at the time as they had the same last name, so they had eloped to Taiwan, then under Japanese colonial rule, where they could marry.^[1] Koreeda has cited this as a reason for his affinity toward Taiwan.^[2]

Koreeda's father was conscripted into the Japanese military during World War II and detained in Siberia for three years after the end of the war.^[3]

Hirokazu Koreeda was born on 6 June 1962^[4] in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. He is the youngest of three children.^[5] From an early age, Koreeda watched movies with his mother. He said through an interpreter, "My mother loved films! She adored Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine, Vivien Leigh! We couldn't afford to go together to the cinema, but she was always watching their movies on TV. She stopped all family business or discussions to watch these movies. We would watch together. So I adored film—like her."^[6]

After seeing Japan win the gold medal in men's volleyball at the 1972 Munich Olympics, he started playing in middle school. He rose to team captain in high school as a setter.^[7]

He initially failed his entrance exams, but was accepted into Waseda University a year later.^[7] He graduated from Waseda University's Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences in 1987.^[8][9]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Before becoming a director, Koreeda worked as an assistant director on television documentaries. He directed his first television documentary, Lessons from a Calf, in 1991. He directed several other documentary films thereafter.^[10]

Koreeda's 1994 documentary August without Him depicts his friendship with A.I.D.S.-sufferer Hirata Yutaka. It follows Koreeda as he meets Yutaka and films his life between 1992 and 1994. The first Japanese person to admit he contracted the disease via homosexual contact, Yutaka speaks openly about his condition. The film ends with his condition having deteriorated. Yutaka died of AIDS complications on May 29, 1994.^[11]

At the 1995 Venice Film Festival, Koreeda's first fiction feature film, Maborosi, won a Golden Osella for Best Cinematography.^[12] At the first Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema in 1999, he won awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay for his film After Life.^[13]

In 2005, Koreeda won the Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Film and Best Director for his film Nobody Knows.^[14] His 2008 film Still Walking also earned accolades, including Best Director at the 2009 Asian Film Awards^[15][16] and the Golden Ástor for Best Film at the 2008 Mar del Plata International Film Festival.^[17]

Koreeda's 2013 film Like Father, Like Son premiered and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.^[18] It did not win, but it won the Jury Prize^[19] and a commendation from the Ecumenical Jury.^[20] In October 2013, the film won the Rogers People's Choice Award at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival.^[21]

Koreeda's 2015 film Our Little Sister was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.^[22] His 2016 film After the Storm debuted to critical acclaim at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category.^[23] For his work on it, Koreeda won Best Director at the Yokohama Film Festival.^[24] He won Best Film and Best Director Japan Academy Prizes for his 2017 film The Third Murder, which also screened in the main competition of the 74th Venice International Film Festival.^[25]

In 2018, his film Shoplifters, about a young girl welcomed in by a family of shoplifters, premiered and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.^[26] It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.^[27]

In 2018, he won the Donostia Award for his life-time achievement at San Sebastián International Film Festival.^[28]

In 2019, Koreeda directed The Truth, starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke. It is his first film shot in Europe and not in Japanese.^[29][30]

In 2021, Koreeda directed Broker. The film was shot in South Korea, featuring a predominantly South Korean cast and crew.^[31][32] It was first released on 8 June 2022.^[33] The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

In January 2022, it was announced that Koreeda would be working with a team of directors including Megumi Tsuno, Hiroshi Okuyama, and Takuma Sato on a nine-episode series, The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, adapted from the manga Kiyo in Kyoto.^[34]

In November 2022, Koreeda disclosed that he had completed shooting his next Japanese film, Monster.^[35] With post-production underway, Monster was scheduled for release in Japan on 2 June 2023.^[36] This release date positioned the film for a potential world premiere in May at Cannes.^[37] It won the Queer Palm and the Best Screenplay Award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.^[38][39]

In 2025, Netflix released Koreeda's T.V. series Asura. It is based on Kuniko Mukōda's novel of the same name.^[40] In September of that year, Koreeda began work on his next movie, Sheep in the Box. Neon is reuniting with him to distribute the movie in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.^[41]

Style and influences

According to the Harvard Film Archive, Koreeda's works "reflect the contemplative style and pacing of such luminaries as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang".^[42] Koreeda is often compared to Yasujirō Ozu, but has said he feels more influenced by Ken Loach and Mikio Naruse.^[6]

In a 2009 interview, Koreeda said that Still Walking is based on his own family.^[43]

Koreeda was married in 2002 and has a daughter, born in 2007.^[5][44]

Feature films

More information Year, English Title ...

Year	English Title	Original Title	Credited as			Notes
			Director	Writer	Editor
1995	Maborosi	幻の光	Yes	No	No
1998	After Life	ワンダフルライフ	Yes	Yes	Yes
2001	Distance	DISTANCE ディスタンス	Yes	Yes	Yes
2004	Nobody Knows	誰も知らない	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also producer
2006	Hana	花よりもなほ	Yes	Yes	Yes
2008	Still Walking	歩いても 歩いても	Yes	Yes	Yes
2009	Air Doll	空気人形	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also producer
2011	I Wish	奇跡	Yes	Yes	Yes
2013	Like Father, Like Son	そして父になる	Yes	Yes	Yes
2015	Our Little Sister	海街diary	Yes	Yes	Yes
2016	After the Storm	海よりもまだ深く	Yes	Yes	Yes
2017	The Third Murder	三度目の殺人	Yes	Yes	Yes
2018	Shoplifters	万引き家族	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also producer
2019	The Truth	La Vérité	Yes	Yes	Yes	French-language debut
2022	Broker	브로커	Yes	Yes	Yes	Korean-language debut
2023	Monster	怪物	Yes	No	Yes	Also executive producer
2026	Sheep in the Box	箱の中の羊	Yes	Yes	Yes	[45]
	Look Back	ルックバック	Yes	Yes	Yes	Post-production[46]

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Producer

More information Year, Film ...

Year	Film	Notes
1993	Kakuto
2003	Hebi ichigo
2006	Yureru	Planner
2014	leji	Consulting producer
2018	Ten Years Japan	Executive producer[47]
2022	Mai Sumoru Rando

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Documentaries

More information Year, Film ...

Year	Film	Notes
1991	Lessons from a Calf
	However...	Also producer
1992	Where Has All the Pollution Gone?
	I Wish I Could Be Japanese
1993	When Cinema Reflects the Times: Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang	Documentary about filmmakers Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang
	Soul Sketches-Every Person's Kenji Miyazawa	Documentary short film
	Yottsu no shibu jikoku
1994	August without Him	Documentary about HIV patient Hirata Yutaka
1996	This World	A filmed correspondence between Kawase Naomi and Koreeda. Also writer and cinematographer
2003	Birthplace	Documentary about the old sets from his first feature Maborosi Also editor
2008	Daijōbu Dearu Yō ni: Cocco Owaranai Tabi	Documentary about Cocco
	Series Constitution. Article 9. War Renunciation. Oblivion
2012	The Message from Fukushima	Documentary short
2021	The Center Lane	Documentary short about swimmer Rikako Ikee

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Television

More information Year, Film ...

Year	Film	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Writer	Editor
1991	Nonfix	Yes	No	No	TV Series
1996	Without Memory	Yes	Yes	Yes	TV Documentary Movie
2010	Kaidan Horror Classics	Yes	Yes	No	Anthology TV Series Directed episode "Nochi no hi"
2012	Going My Home [48]	Yes	Yes	Yes	TV Miniseries
2015	Ishibumi [49]	Yes	No	No	TV Documentary film [49]
2020	A Day-Off of Kasumi Arimura[50]	Yes	No	No	TV Series Directed episodes "Tada ima no nochi ni" and "Ningen Doku"[50]
2023	The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House [51]	Yes	Yes	Yes	TV Miniseries Also executive producer[51]
2025	Asura[52]	Yes	Yes	Yes	TV Series

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• 1995: Vancouver International Film Festival – Dragons and Tigers Award (Maborosi)
• 1998: San Sebastian Film Festival – FIPRESCI Prize (After Life)
• 1998: Three Continents Festival – Golden Montgolfiere (After Life)
• 1999: Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema – Best Film and Best Screenplay (After Life)
• 2004: Flanders International Film Festival Ghent – Grand Prix (Nobody Knows)
• 2005: Blue Ribbon Awards – Best Film and Best Director (Nobody Knows)
• 2008: Mar del Plata International Film Festival – Best Film (Still Walking)
• 2009: Asian Film Awards – Best Director (Still Walking)
• 2009: Blue Ribbon Awards – Best Director (Still Walking)
• 2011: San Sebastian Film Festival – Best Screenplay (I Wish)
• 2012: Asia-Pacific Film Festival – Best Director (I Wish)
• 2013: Cannes Film Festival – Jury Prize (Like Father, Like Son)
• 2013: Asia-Pacific Film Festival – Best Film and Best Director (Like Father, Like Son)
• 2013: São Paulo International Film Festival – Audience Award Best Foreign Film (Like Father, Like Son)
• 2013: Vancouver International Film Festival – Audience Award International Films (Like Father, Like Son)
• 2013: Yokohama Film Festival – Best Screenplay (Like Father, Like Son)
• 2015: San Sebastian Film Festival – Audience Award Best Film (Our Little Sister)
• 2015: Yokohama Film Festival – Best Director (Our Little Sister)^[24]
• 2016: Japan Academy Prize – Best Film and Best Director (Our Little Sister)
• 2016: Films from the South – Best Film (After the Storm)
• 2018: Japan Academy Prize – Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing (The Third Murder)
• 2018: Cannes Film Festival – Palme d'Or (Shoplifters)
• 2018: Los Angeles Film Critics Association – Best Foreign Film (Shoplifters)
• 2018: San Sebastián International Film Festival – Donostia Award
• 2018: Asia Pacific Screen Awards – Best Film (Shoplifters)
• 2018: Denver Film Festival – Best Film (Shoplifters)
• 2018: Filmfest München – Best International Film (Shoplifters)
• 2018: Films from the South – Audience Award (Shoplifters)
• 2018: Vancouver International Film Festival – Most Popular International Feature (Shoplifters)
• 2019: Asian Film Awards – Best Film (Shoplifters)
• 2019: Japan Academy Prize – Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay (Shoplifters)
• 2019: César Award – Best Foreign Film (Shoplifters)
• 2019: Guldbagge Awards – Best Foreign Film (Shoplifters)
• 2023: Asian Film Awards – Best Director (Broker)^[53]
• 2023: Cannes Film Fesitval - Queer Palm (Monster)
• 2024: Asian Film Awards – Best Director (Monster)