East Asian cinema
Encyclopedia
East Asian cinema is a term used to refer to the film industry
and films produced in and/or by natives of East Asia
. It can be seen as a sub-section of Asian cinema
, which in turn is a sub-section of world cinema
, a catchall term used in the English-speaking world
to refer to all foreign language films.
The most significant film industries categorizable as East Asian cinema are the industries of People's Republic of China
, Hong Kong
and Japan
, Taiwan
(Republic of China
) and South Korea
. By definition the term also includes any film production within other countries in this region, such as Mongolia
, Vietnam
, Singapore
, North Korea
, Macau
and more.
The terms 'Far Eastern cinema', 'Asian cinema', 'Eastern cinema' or 'Oriental cinema' are sometimes used synonymously with East Asian cinema, particularly in the United States
, although their broader scope means that they could equally well apply to the movies produced in other parts of Asia, particularly the cinema of India
including the enormous Bollywood
film industry.
and genres. However, East Asian cinema is particularly famous in the West for:
's Rashomon
and Kenji Mizoguchi
's Ugetsu
both captured prizes at the Venice Film Festival
and elsewhere, and by the middle of the decade Teinosuke Kinugasa
's Gate of Hell and the first part of Hiroshi Inagaki
's Samurai Trilogy
had won Oscars. Kurosawa's Seven Samurai became a global success; Japanese cinema had burst into international consciousness.
By the end of the decade, several critics associated with French
journal Cahiers du cinéma
published some of the first Western studies on Japanese film; many of those critics went on to become founding members of the French nouvelle vague, which began simultaneously with the Japanese New Wave.
, whose 1966 Come Drink With Me
was a key influence upon many subsequent Hong Kong cinematic developments. Shortly thereafter, the American-born Bruce Lee
became a global icon.
- began to make something of an international comeback. Simultaneously, a new post-MaoZedong generation of Chinese filmakers began to gain global attention. Another group of filmmakers, centered around Edward Yang
and Hou Hsiao-hsien
launched what has become known as the "Taiwanese New Wave".
With the post-1980 rise in popularity of East Asian cinema in the West, Western audiences are again becoming familiar with many of the industry's film-makers and stars. A number of these key players, such as Chow Yun-fat
and Zhang Ziyi
have "crossed over", working in Western films. Others have gained exposure through the international success of their films, though many more retain more of a "cult
" appeal, finding a degree of Western success through DVD sales rather than cinema releases.
, Robert Altman
and Martin Scorsese
citing Akira Kurosawa
; and Jim Jarmusch
and Paul Schrader
's similar mentions of Yasujiro Ozu
), and - on occasion - work to introduce less well-known filmmakers to Western audiences (such as the growing number of Eastern films released with the endorsement "Quentin Tarantino
Presents").
and European cinema, a tradition extending at least as far back as Western
remakes of Akira Kurosawa
films, such as John Sturges
' 1960 The Magnificent Seven
(based on Seven Samurai), Sergio Leone
's 1964 A Fistful of Dollars
(based on Yojimbo) and Martin Ritt
's 1964 The Outrage
(based on Rashomon
), continuing through present-day remakes of J-Horror
films like Ring
and Ju-on: The Grudge
.
The influence also goes the other way. A number of East Asian films have also been based upon Western source material as varied as the quickie Hong Kong film
remakes of Hollywood hits as well as Kurosawa's adaptations of works by William Shakespeare
(The Bad Sleep Well
, Throne of Blood
, and Ran
), Maxim Gorky
(The Lower Depths
) and Ed McBain
(High and Low).
Film industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
and films produced in and/or by natives of East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
. It can be seen as a sub-section of Asian cinema
Asian cinema
Asian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Asia, and is also sometimes known as Eastern cinema. More commonly however, it is used to refer to the cinema of Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Asia. West Asian cinema is sometimes classified as part of Middle...
, which in turn is a sub-section of world cinema
World cinema
World cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the films and film industries of non-English speaking countries. It is therefore often used interchangeably with the term foreign film...
, a catchall term used in the English-speaking world
English-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
to refer to all foreign language films.
The most significant film industries categorizable as East Asian cinema are the industries of People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
(Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
) and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. By definition the term also includes any film production within other countries in this region, such as Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
and more.
The terms 'Far Eastern cinema', 'Asian cinema', 'Eastern cinema' or 'Oriental cinema' are sometimes used synonymously with East Asian cinema, particularly in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, although their broader scope means that they could equally well apply to the movies produced in other parts of Asia, particularly the cinema of India
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
including the enormous Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film industry.
Styles and genres
The scope of East Asian cinema is huge and covers a wide array of different film stylesFilm styles
Film styles are recognizable film techniques used by filmmakers to give specific meaning or value to their work. It can include all aspects in making a film: sound, mise-en-scene, dialogue, cinematography, or attitude.-Style and the director:...
and genres. However, East Asian cinema is particularly famous in the West for:
- Martial arts filmMartial arts filmMartial arts film is a film genre. A sub-genre of the action film, martial arts films contain numerous fights between characters, usually as the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often as a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently...
s (notably the various styles of Hong Kong action cinemaHong Kong action cinemaHong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
such as periodPeriod piece-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
Kung FuKung fu (term)Kung fu or gongfu or gung fu is a Chinese term often used in the West to refer to Chinese martial arts.Its original meaning is somewhat different, referring to one's expertise in any skill achieved through hard work and practice, not necessarily martial...
, action comediesAction filmAction film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
and WuxiaWuxiaWuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
) - JidaigekiJidaigekiis a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
(Japanese period films, especially Samurai films) - J-HorrorJ-HorrorJapanese horror, or J-Horror, is Japanese horror fiction in popular culture, noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments...
(Japanese horror filmHorror filmHorror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
) - K-HorrorK-HorrorKorean horror, sometimes referred to as K-Horror, is the term given to horror films made as part of the cinema of Korea. Korean horror features many of the same motifs, themes, and imagery as Japanese horror. Korean horror has been around since the early years of Korean cinema; however, it wasn't...
(Korean horror filmHorror filmHorror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
) - AnimeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
(Japanese animation) - Heroic bloodshedHeroic bloodshedHeroic Bloodshed is a genre of Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence. The term heroic bloodshed was coined by editor Rick Baker in the magazine Eastern Heroes in the late 1980s, specifically...
(Hong Kong action films) and other gangster films (usually centred on Chinese Triad crime organisations) - TokusatsuTokusatsuis a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....
(Japanese science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
including KaijuKaijuis a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
monster films)
1890s-1950s
Unlike the European film industries, the East Asian industries were not dominated by American distributors, and developed in relative isolation from Hollywood cinema; while Hollywood films were screened in East Asian countries, they were less popular than home-grown fare with local audiences. Thus, several distinctive genres and styles developed.1950s: global influence
East Asian cinema has - to widely varying degrees nationally - had a global audience since at least the 1950s. At the beginning of the decade, Akira KurosawaAkira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
and Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...
's Ugetsu
Ugetsu
Ugetsu is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Set in 16th century Japan, it stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō, and is inspired by short stories by Ueda Akinari and Guy de Maupassant...
both captured prizes at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
and elsewhere, and by the middle of the decade Teinosuke Kinugasa
Teinosuke Kinugasa
-External links:* *...
's Gate of Hell and the first part of Hiroshi Inagaki
Hiroshi Inagaki
was a Japanese filmmaker most known for the Academy Award-winning Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto, which he directed in 1954.-Career:Born in Tokyo as the son of a shinpa actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining the Nikkatsu studio as an actor in 1922...
's Samurai Trilogy
Samurai Trilogy
The Samurai Trilogy is a film trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshirō Mifune as Musashi Miyamoto and Koji Tsuruta as Kojirō Sasaki...
had won Oscars. Kurosawa's Seven Samurai became a global success; Japanese cinema had burst into international consciousness.
By the end of the decade, several critics associated with French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
journal Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du Cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs — Objectif 49 and...
published some of the first Western studies on Japanese film; many of those critics went on to become founding members of the French nouvelle vague, which began simultaneously with the Japanese New Wave.
1960s and 1970s
However, by the late 60s and early 70s, Japanese cinema had begun to become seriously affected by the collapse of the studio system. As Japanese cinema slipped into a period of relative low visibility, the cinema of Hong Kong entered a dramatic renaissance of its own, largely a side effect of the development of the wuxia blending of action, history, and spiritual concerns. Several major figures emerged in Hong Kong at this time - perhaps most famously, King HuKing Hu
King Hu was a Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based Chinese film director whose Wuxia films brought Chinese cinema to new technical and artistic heights. His films Come Drink with Me , Dragon Gate Inn and A Touch of Zen inaugurated a new generation of wuxia films in the late 1960s...
, whose 1966 Come Drink With Me
Come Drink with Me
Come Drink with Me is a 1966 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by King Hu. Set during the Ming Dynasty, it stars Cheng Pei-pei and Yueh Hua as warriors with Chan Hung-lit as the villain, and features action choreography by Han Ying-chieh. It is widely considered one of the best Hong Kong films ever made...
was a key influence upon many subsequent Hong Kong cinematic developments. Shortly thereafter, the American-born Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
became a global icon.
1980s to the present
During the 1980s, Japanese cinema - aided by the rise of independent filmmaking and the spectacular success of animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
- began to make something of an international comeback. Simultaneously, a new post-MaoZedong generation of Chinese filmakers began to gain global attention. Another group of filmmakers, centered around Edward Yang
Edward Yang
Edward Yang , along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming Liang, was one of the leading filmmakers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi .-Biography:...
and Hou Hsiao-hsien
Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Hou Hsiao-Hsien is an award-winning film director and a leading figure of Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement.-Biography:...
launched what has become known as the "Taiwanese New Wave".
With the post-1980 rise in popularity of East Asian cinema in the West, Western audiences are again becoming familiar with many of the industry's film-makers and stars. A number of these key players, such as Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
and Zhang Ziyi
Zhang Ziyi
Zhang Ziyi is a Chinese film actress. Zhang is coined by the media as one of the Four Young Dan actresses in the Film Industry in China, along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei, and Zhou Xun...
have "crossed over", working in Western films. Others have gained exposure through the international success of their films, though many more retain more of a "cult
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
" appeal, finding a degree of Western success through DVD sales rather than cinema releases.
Influence and impact
As the popularity of East Asian films has endured, it is unsurprising that members of the Western film industry would cite their influences (notably George LucasGeorge Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
and Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
citing Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
; and Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
and Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
's similar mentions of Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
), and - on occasion - work to introduce less well-known filmmakers to Western audiences (such as the growing number of Eastern films released with the endorsement "Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
Presents").
Remakes: East and West
Another sign of the increasing influence of East Asian film in the West is the number of East Asian films that have been remade in HollywoodCinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
and European cinema, a tradition extending at least as far back as Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
remakes of Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
films, such as John Sturges
John Sturges
John Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...
' 1960 The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven is an American Western film directed by John Sturges, and released in 1960. It is a fictional tale of a group of seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small agricultural village in Mexico from a group of marauding Mexican bandits...
(based on Seven Samurai), Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's 1964 A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...
(based on Yojimbo) and Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
's 1964 The Outrage
The Outrage
The Outrage is a remake of the 1950 Japanese film Rashomon, reformulated as a Western. Like the original Akira Kurosawa film, four people give contradictory accounts of a rape and murder. Kurosawa is credited with the screenplay. It was directed by Martin Ritt and is based on stories by Ryūnosuke...
(based on Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
), continuing through present-day remakes of J-Horror
J-Horror
Japanese horror, or J-Horror, is Japanese horror fiction in popular culture, noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments...
films like Ring
Ring (film)
is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family...
and Ju-on: The Grudge
Ju-on: The Grudge
is a 2003 Japanese horror film written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. The film is the third entry in the Ju-on series and is the first film theatrically released...
.
The influence also goes the other way. A number of East Asian films have also been based upon Western source material as varied as the quickie Hong Kong film
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
remakes of Hollywood hits as well as Kurosawa's adaptations of works by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
(The Bad Sleep Well
The Bad Sleep Well
is a 1960 film directed by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It was the first film to be produced under Kurosawa's own independent production company. It was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival....
, Throne of Blood
Throne of Blood
Throne of Blood is a 1957 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa. Its original Japanese title is Kumonosu-jō , which means "Spider Web Castle". The film transposes the plot of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth to feudal Japan.-Plot:...
, and Ran
Ran (film)
is a 1985 Japanese-French jidaigeki film written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film starred Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons. It also stars Mieko Harada as the wife of Ichimonji's eldest son...
), Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
(The Lower Depths
The Lower Depths
The Lower Depths is perhaps Maxim Gorky's best-known play. It was written during the winter of 1901 and the spring of 1902. Subtitled "Scenes from Russian Life," it depicted a group of impoverished Russians living in a shelter near the Volga. Produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18,...
) and Ed McBain
Evan Hunter
Evan Hunter was an American author and screenwriter. Born Salvatore Albert Lombino, he legally adopted the name Evan Hunter in 1952...
(High and Low).
China
- Cai ChushengCai ChushengResting Place= Babaoshan Revoluntionary CemeteryCai Chusheng was a Chinese film director of the pre-Communist era. Known best for his progressive output in the 1930s, Cai Chusheng later became a victim to the persecutions of the Cultural Revolution.- Early career :Born in Shanghai to Cantonese...
(1906–1968). Influential Chinese director of the 1930s and 1940s. Best known for his film Spring River Flows East, which is frequently regarded as one of the masterpieces of Chinese cinema. - Chen KaigeChen KaigeChen Kaige is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling.-Early life:...
(born 1952). Fifth-Generation Chinese film director known for films such as Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor and the AssassinThe Emperor and the AssassinThe Emperor and the Assassin, also known as The First Emperor, is a 1998 Chinese historical romance film based primarily on Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin, as described in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. The film was directed by Chen Kaige and stars Gong Li, Zhang...
, and Yellow EarthYellow EarthYellow Earth is a 1984 Chinese drama film. It was the directorial debut for Chen Kaige. The film's notable cinematography is by Zhang Yimou. At the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony on 27 March 2005, a list of 100 Best Chinese Motion Pictures was tallied, and Yellow Earth came in...
(one of the first Chinese films to compete in international film festivals after the Cultural Revolution). - Jiang WenJiang WenJiang Wen is a Chinese film actor and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "sixth generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum...
(born 1963). Famous Chinese actor turned director. Best known for In the Heat of the SunIn the Heat of the SunIn the Heat of the Sun is a 1994 movie directed by Jiang Wen. This was Jiang Wen's first foray into directing after years as a leading man. The film is based on author Wang Shuo's novel Wild Beast .-Synopsis:...
and Devils on the Doorstep, which won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the 2000 Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film FestivalThe Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. - Jia ZhangkeJia ZhangkeJia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....
(born 1970). One of the most prominent Sixth-Generation Chinese film directors. His most renowned works includes the highly acclaimed Platform, Unknown PleasuresUnknown Pleasures (film)Unknown Pleasures is a 2002 Chinese film directed by Jia Zhangke, starring Wu Qiong, Zhao Weiwei and Zhao Tao as three disaffected youths living in Datong in 2001, part of the new "Birth Control" generation...
, and The WorldThe World (film)The World is a 2004 Chinese film written and directed by Jia Zhangke. Starring Jia's muse, Zhao Tao, as well as Chen Taisheng, The World was filmed on and around an actual theme park located in Beijing, Beijing World Park, which recreates world landmarks at reduced scales for Chinese tourists. The...
. - Fei MuFei MuFei Mu was a major Chinese film director from the pre-Communist era.-Biography:Born in Shanghai, China, Fei Mu is considered by many to be one of the major film directors prior to the communist revolution in 1949...
(1906–1951). Pioneering Chinese director in the 1940s. Best known for the film Spring in a Small TownSpring in a Small TownSpring in a Small Town is a Chinese film released in 1948 and directed by Fei Mu . The film was based on a short story by Li Tianji , and was produced by the Wenhua Film Company....
, which is considered by many to be the best Chinese film ever made. - Lou YeLou YeLou Ye , born 1965, is a Chinese writer-director who is commonly grouped with the "Sixth Generation" directors of Chinese cinema.-Films:Born in Shanghai, Lou was educated at the Beijing Film Academy. In 1993, he made his first film Weekend Lover, but it was not released until two years later in 1995...
(born 1965). Sixth-Generation film director of Purple ButterflyPurple ButterflyPurple Butterfly is a 2003 Chinese film, directed by Lou Ye. It is Lou's third film after Weekend Lover and Suzhou River. It stars Chinese mainland actors, Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye and Li Bingbing, as well as Japanese actor Tôru Nakamura...
, Summer PalaceSummer Palace (film)Summer Palace , is a 2006 Chinese film and the fourth feature film by director Lou Ye. The film was a Chinese-French collaboration produced by Dream Factory, Laurel Films, Fantasy Pictures and Sylvain Bursztejn's Rosem Films...
, and Suzhou RiverSuzhou River (film)Suzhou River is a 2000 film by Lou Ye about a tragic love story set in contemporary Shanghai. The film, though stylistically distinct, is typical of "Sixth Generation" Chinese filmmakers in its subject matter of contemporary China's gritty urban experience...
. - Lu ChuanLu ChuanLu Chuan is a Chinese filmmaker and screenwriter. He is the son of the novelist, Lu Tianming.-Education:Educated at the People's Liberation Army International Relations University in Nanjing, Lu spent two years serving in the Army as a secretary to a general. After his time in the army, Lu...
(born 1970). Sixth-Generation Chinese film director. Best known for The Missing GunThe Missing GunThe Missing Gun is a 2002 Chinese black comedy film directed by Lu Chuan and starring Jiang Wen, Ning Jing and Wu Yujuan. A directorial debut of Lu, the film premiered during the 9th Beijing Student Film Festival on 21 April 2002...
and the award-winning Kekexili: Mountain PatrolKekexili: Mountain PatrolKekexili: Mountain Patrol is a 2004 film by Chinese director Lu Chuan that depicts the struggle between vigilante rangers and bands of poachers in the remote Tibetan region of Kekexili...
. - Tian ZhuangzhuangTian ZhuangzhuangTian Zhuangzhuang is a Chinese film director and producer.Tian was born to an influential actor and actress in China. Following a short stint in the military, Tian began his artistic career first as an amateur photographer and then as an assistant cinematographer at the Beijing Agricultural Film...
(born 1952). One of the most prominent Fifth-Generation film directors. Known for films such as The Blue KiteThe Blue KiteThe Blue Kite is a film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang in 1993. Though banned by the Chinese government upon its completion , the film soon found a receptive international audience...
and The Horse ThiefThe Horse ThiefThe Horse Thief is a 1986 Chinese film by acclaimed director, Tian Zhuangzhuang. It follows one of Tian's favorite topics, Chinese minorities, a topic he touched upon in 1984's On the Hunting Ground and would return to in 2004's documentary, Delamu...
. - Wang XiaoshuaiWang XiaoshuaiWang Xiaoshuai is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and occasional actor. He is commonly grouped under the loose association of filmmakers known as the Sixth Generation of the Cinema of China....
(born 1966). Award-winning Sixth-Generation Chinese film director. - Wu YonggangWu YonggangWu Yonggang was a prominent Chinese film director during the 1930s. Today Wu is best known for his directorial debut, The Goddess. Wu had a long career with the Lianhua Film Company in the 1930s, in Chongqing during the war, and in the mainland after the 1949 communist revolution...
(1907–1982). Chinese director of the 1930s best known for his work with the actress Ruan LingyuRuan LingyuRuan Lingyu , born Ruan Fenggen , was a Chinese silent film actress. One of the most prominent Chinese film stars of the 1930s, her death at the age of 24 led her to become an icon of Chinese cinema.- Career :...
, such as The GoddessThe Goddess (1934 film)The Goddess is a 1934 Chinese silent film released by the United Photoplay Service. It starred Ruan Lingyu in one of her final roles, and was directed by Wu Yonggang....
. - Xie JinXie JinXie Jin was an important Chinese film director. He rose to prominence in 1957, directing the film Woman Basketball Player No. 5. Most recently he was known for the direction of The Opium War....
(1923–2008). Well-known Chinese director during the Cultural Revolution. Notable works includes: The Red Detachment of Women, Two Stage SistersTwo Stage SistersTwo Stage Sisters is a 1964 Chinese drama film produced by Shanghai Tianma Film Studio and directed by Xie Jin, starring Xie Fang and Cao Yindi. Made just before the Cultural Revolution, it tells the story of two female Yue Opera practitioners from the same troupe who end up taking very different...
. - Yuan MuzhiYuan MuzhiYuan Muzhi was an actor and director from the Republic of China and later of the People's Republic of China.- Career :...
(1909–1978). Chinese director best known for the film Street AngelStreet Angel (1937 film)Street Angel is a Chinese film released in 1937. The film was directed by Yuan Muzhi and stars the popular singer Zhou Xuan.-Synopsis:The film deals with two sisters, Xiao Hong and Xiao Yun who have fled from the war in Northeast China to Shanghai, where they are living under the brutal thumb of...
starring actress Zhou XuanZhou XuanZhou Xuan was a popular Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's seven great singing stars. She is probably the most well-known of the seven, as she had a concurrent movie career until 1953.-Biography:...
. - Zhang YimouZhang YimouZhang Yimou is a Chinese film director, producer, writer and actor, and former cinematographer. He is counted amongst the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, having made his directorial debut in 1987 with Red Sorghum....
(born 1950). Fifth-Generation film director known for his sumptuous visual styles and allegorical story-tellings. Notable films: Red SorghumRed SorghumRed Sorghum is a 1987 Chinese film about a young woman's life working on a distillery for sorghum liquor. It is based on a novel by Mo Yan....
, Raise the Red LanternRaise the Red LanternRaise the Red Lantern is a 1991 film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. It is an adaption by Ni Zhen of the 1990 novel Wives and Concubines by Su Tong...
, To Live, and HeroHero (2002 film)Hero is a 2002 wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou. Starring Jet Li as the nameless protagonist, the film is based on the story of Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin in 227 BC....
. - Zhang YuanZhang YuanZhang Yuan is a Chinese film director who has been described by film scholars as a pioneering member of China's Sixth Generation of filmmakers...
(born 1963). Sixth-Generation Chinese film director best known for the film East Palace, West PalaceEast Palace, West PalaceEast Palace, West Palace is a 1996 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yuan starring Hu Jun, Si Han. It is also known as Behind the Forbidden City or Behind the Palace Gates....
. - Zhu ShilinZhu ShilinZhu Shilin . was a Chinese film director, born in Taicang, Jiangsu, China. Zhu began his career in the thriving film industry of Shanghai, directing actresses like Ruan Lingyu with the Lianhua Film Company...
(1899–1967). Influential Chinese director of the early sound era.
Hong Kong
- Jackie ChanJackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
(born 1954). - Stephen ChowStephen ChowStephen Chow Sing-Chi is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.- Professional career :Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB. He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films. Chow graduated from...
(born 1962). Director, actor and comedian, best known in the West for the films Shaolin SoccerShaolin SoccerShaolin Soccer is a 2001 Hong Kong comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Stephen Chow. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.In 2008 a...
and Kung Fu HustleKung Fu HustleKung Fu Hustle is a 2004 action comedy film directed and produced by, and starring Stephen Chow. The other film producers were Chui Po-chu and Jeffrey Lau, while the screenplay was written by Huo Xin, Chan Man-keung, and Tsang Kan-cheung...
. - Ringo LamRingo LamRingo Lam Ling-Tung , born in 1955 is a Hong Kong film director, producer and scriptwriter.He is known for gritty, dark and realistic action thrillers. He was born in Hong Kong and studied film at York University film school in Toronto...
(born 1954). Best known for the film City on FireCity on Fire (1987 film)City on Fire is a gritty and stylish 1987 Hong Kong action crime drama film produced and directed by Ringo Lam, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee and Sun Yueh...
starring Chow Yun-fatChow Yun-FatChow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
; has also worked with Jean-Claude Van DammeJean-Claude Van DammeJean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg , professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action films, the most successful of which include Bloodsport , Kickboxer , Double Impact , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , Timecop ,...
. - Tsui HarkTsui HarkTsui Hark , born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong New Wave film director and producer. He is viewed as a major figure in the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema .-Early life:...
(born 1950). Major commercial Hong Kong director; Hark attended film school in the U.S. Best known for Zu, the Once Upon A Time In ChinaOnce Upon a Time in ChinaOnce Upon a Time in China is a Hong Kong martial arts action/adventure film franchise directed, written, and produced by Tsui Hark. The stories are based on the life of the legendary kung fu master, Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, and Chinese folk hero, Wong Fei Hung...
series, and Green Snake, among many other films. - Ann HuiAnn HuiAnn Hui On-Wah is a Hong Kong film director, film producer and occasional screenwriter, one of the most critically acclaimed amongst the Hong Kong New Wave.-Early life:...
(born 1947). Hui emerged from the late 1970s Hong Kong new wave, gaining attention for Spooky Bunch and Boat PeopleBoat People (film)Boat People is an award-winning Hong Kong film directed by Ann Hui, first shown in theaters in 1982. The film stars George Lam, Andy Lau, Cora Miao, and Season Ma. At the second Hong Kong Film Awards, Boat People won awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best New Performer, Best Screenplay,...
. - Sammo HungSammo HungSammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...
(born 1952). Director, actor and stuntman of Hong Kong action cinemaHong Kong action cinemaHong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
, famed for starring, directing and choreographing Kung Fu martial arts filmMartial arts filmMartial arts film is a film genre. A sub-genre of the action film, martial arts films contain numerous fights between characters, usually as the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often as a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently...
s for over 40 years, as well as his association with fellow stars Jackie ChanJackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
and Yuen BiaoYuen BiaoYuen Biao is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer...
and the hit US television series Martial LawMartial Law (TV series)Martial Law was a TV crime drama that ran on CBS from 1998 to 2000, and was created by Carlton Cuse. The title character, Sammo Law, portrayed by Sammo Hung, was a Chinese law officer and martial arts expert who came to Los Angeles in search of a colleague and remains in the US.The show was a...
. - Stanley KwanStanley KwanStanley Kwan is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director and producer.Kwan landed a job at the TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College...
(born 1957). Director of RougeRouge (film)Rouge is a 1988 Hong Kong film, directed by Stanley Kwan. The movie is the adaptation of the novel by Lilian Lee.-Plot:Chan Chen-Pang, better known as the "12th Young Master" , was a fashionable playboy who frequented the opium dens prevalent in Hong Kong in 1934, where he met the high-class and...
, Centre StageCentre StageCentre Stage , also known as Actress and Yuen Ling-yuk, is a 1992 Hong Kong film, directed by Stanley Kwan.The film is based on a true story: the tragic life of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu. This movie chronicles her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during...
and Lan Yu. Kwan is notable as one of a small number of directors who have successfully blurred the boundaries between "art" and "popular" cinema. - Clara LawClara LawClara Law is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director, now having relocated to Australia before the 1997 Hong Kong handover....
(born 1957). Law was one of the key figures in the late 1970s Hong Kong new wave, well known for Autumn MoonAutumn MoonAutumn Moon is a 1992 film directed by Clara Law and written by Eddie Ling-Ching Fong.A Hong Kong high school girl befriends a twenty-something Japanese man visiting Hong Kong....
and Temptation of a MonkTemptation of a MonkTemptation of A Monk is a 1993 Chinese language film starring Joan Chen and directed by Clara Law.-External links:*...
. - Johnnie ToJohnnie ToJohnnie To Kei-Fung, born 22 April 1955, is a Hong Kong film director and producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas...
(born 1955). Internationally acclaimed director of genre films, known for All About Ah LongAll About Ah LongAll About Ah-Long is a 1989 Hong Kong drama film directed by Johnnie To and starring Chow Yun-fat, Sylvia Chang and Ng Man-Tat.-Synopsis:...
(1989), Fulltime Killer (2001), Election 2Election 2Election 2 |Black Society]]: Value Peace Most), also known as Triad Election in the United States, is a 2006 Hong Kong crime film directed by Johnnie To with a large ensemble cast that includes Louis Koo, Simon Yam and Nick Cheung...
(aka Triad Election ) (20062006 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
) and ExiledExiledExiled is a 2006 Hong Kong action crime drama film produced and directed by Johnnie To, and starring Anthony Wong, Roy Cheung, Francis Ng, and Simon Yam. The action takes place in contemporary Macau.-Plot:...
(2006). He is a darling of film festivals, from Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film FestivalThe Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
to Venice Film FestivalVenice Film FestivalThe Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. - Lo WeiLo WeiLo Wei was a famous Hong Kong film director and film actor best known for launching the martial arts film careers of both Bruce Lee, in The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, and Jackie Chan, in New Fist of Fury....
(1918–1996). - Wong Kar-waiWong Kar-waiWong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...
(born 1958). Internationally influential director known for his expressive stylishness. In the Mood For LoveIn the Mood for LoveIn the Mood for Love is a 2000 Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung...
and Chungking ExpressChungking ExpressChungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman...
are among his best-known films. - John WooJohn WooJohn Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
(born 1946). One of the best known East Asian directors to Western audiences, his domestic output includes the Chow Yun-fatChow Yun-FatChow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
films The Killer and Hard BoiledHard BoiledHard Boiled is a 1992 Hong Kong action film directed by John Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat as Inspector "Tequila" Yuen, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Tony, an undercover cop, and Anthony Wong as Johnny Wong, a leader of criminal triads. The film features Tequila, whose partner is killed in a tea...
and his Western movies include Broken ArrowBroken Arrow (1996 film)Broken Arrow is a 1996 American action film directed by John Woo, written by Graham Yost, and starring John Travolta and Christian Slater. The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer, and features guitarist Duane Eddy. It deals with the theft of an American nuclear weapon.The film received...
, Face/OffFace/OffFace/Off is a 1997 action thriller film directed by John Woo, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The two both play an FBI agent and a terrorist, sworn enemies who assume the physical appearance of one another....
and PaycheckPaycheck (film)Paycheck is a 2003 film adaptation of the short story of the same name by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The film was directed by John Woo and stars Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman and Aaron Eckhart... - Yuen Woo-pingYuen Woo-pingYuen Woo-ping is a Chinese martial arts choreographer and film director, renowned as one of the most successful and influential figures in the world of Hong Kong action cinema. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong...
(born 1945). Director of classic kung fu films including the Drunken MasterDrunken MasterDrunken Master, also known as Drunk Monkey In The Tiger's Eye, is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, and starring Jackie Chan, Yuen Siu-tien, and Hwang Jang Lee...
(starring Jackie ChanJackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
) and Magnificent ButcherMagnificent ButcherMagnificent Butcher is a 1979 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, starring Sammo Hung, Kwan Tak-hing, Yuen Biao, Wei Pai, Lee Hoi San, Chiang Kam, Fan Mei Sheng, Fung Ging Man, Fung Hak-on and Max Lee.The film is based on the story of Lam Sai-wing, one of the...
(starring Sammo HungSammo HungSammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...
). In his later years his expertise as a martial arts choreographer has been sought by Western directors and he has worked on films including The Matrix seriesThe Matrix seriesThe Matrix is a science fiction action franchise created by Andy and Larry Wachowski and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The series began with the 1999 film The Matrix and later spawned two sequels; The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003, thus forming a trilogy...
, Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
and Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Kill BillKill BillKill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
.
Japan
- Kinji FukasakuKinji Fukasakuwas a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer...
(1930–2003). Director known for his groundbreaking yakuzaYakuza, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
films, including Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973), as well as Battle RoyaleBattle Royale (film)is a 2000 Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku based on the novel of the same name. It was written by Kenta Fukasaku and stars Takeshi Kitano. The film aroused international controversy.A sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem, followed...
(2000). - Susumu HaniSusumu Haniis a Japanese film director, and one of the most prominent representatives of the 1960s Japanese New Wave. Born in Tokyo, he has directed both documentaries and feature films....
(born 1928). Prominent independent filmmaker during the 1960s Japanese new wave, known for She and He and Nanami, First Love. After a retreat from feature filmmaking in the 1970s, Hani subsequently gained renown as a nature documentarian. - Ishirō HondaIshiro HondaIshirō Honda , sometimes miscredited in foreign releases as "Inoshiro Honda", was a Japanese film director...
(1911–1993). Known primarily for his TokusatsuTokusatsuis a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....
and KaijuKaijuis a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
monster films, particularly for bringing the first Godzilla film, GojiraGodzilla (1954 film)is a 1954 Japanese science fiction film directed by Ishirō Honda and produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka. The film stars Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura. The film tells the story of Godzilla, a giant monster mutated by nuclear radiation, who ravages Japan, bringing back the...
to audiences. His many other films include Mothra, King Kong vs. GodzillaKing Kong vs. Godzillais a 1962 Japanese science fiction kaiju film produced by Toho Studios. Directed by Ishirō Honda with visual effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the film starred Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, and Mie Hama. It was the third installment in the Japanese series of films featuring the monster Godzilla...
, Mothra vs. GodzillaMothra vs. Godzillais a 1964 science fiction kaiju film directed by Ishirō Honda. It was the fourth film to be released in the Godzilla series, produced by Toho Company Ltd...
and Destroy All MonstersDestroy All MonstersDestroy All Monsters, released in Japan as , is a 1968 Japanese horror Science fiction Kaiju film. The ninth in Toho Studios' Godzilla series, it was directed by Ishirō Honda with special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa This is the fifth film to feature Mothra, third to feature King Ghidorah, fourth...
. - Kon IchikawaKon Ichikawawas a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...
(1915–2008) Influential postwar director of Tokyo OlympiadTokyo OlympiadTokyo Olympiad is a 1965 documentary film directed by Kon Ichikawa which documents the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Like Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia, which documented the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Ichikawa's film was considered a milestone in documentary filmmaking...
(1965), The Burmese Harp (1956), Fires On The Plain (1959) and ConflagrationConflagrationA conflagration or a blaze is an uncontrolled burning that threatens human life, health, or property. A conflagration can be accidentally begun, naturally caused , or intentionally created . Arson can be accomplished for the purpose of sabotage or diversion, and also can be the consequence of...
(Enjo, 1959). - Tadashi Imai (1912–1991). Imai emerged during the postwar years as a pioneering independent filmmaker, usually working outside the studio system and preferring an approach and viewpoint greatly influenced by Italian neo-realism. Night Drum (1958) and Muddy Waters are two of his best known films.
- Shohei ImamuraShohei Imamurawas a Japanese film director. Imamura was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d'Or awards.His eldest son Daisuke Tengan is also a script writer and film director, and worked on the screenplays to Imamura's filmsThe Eel , Dr...
(1926–2006). First Japanese director to win 2 Palme d'OrPalme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
awards at the Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film FestivalThe Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, for The Ballad of NarayamaThe Ballad of Narayama (1983 film)is a 1983 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. It stars Sumiko Sakamoto as Orin, Ken Ogata, and Shoichi Ozawa. It is an adaptation of the book Narayama bushiko by Shichiro Fukazawa and remake of the 1958 film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.- Plot :...
(1983) and The Eel (1998). Other films include The Insect WomanThe Insect Womanis a 1963 film directed by Japanese director Shōhei Imamura. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival where Sachiko Hidari won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award.-Plot:...
(1963) and Black Rain (1989). - Hiroshi InagakiHiroshi Inagakiwas a Japanese filmmaker most known for the Academy Award-winning Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto, which he directed in 1954.-Career:Born in Tokyo as the son of a shinpa actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining the Nikkatsu studio as an actor in 1922...
(1905–1980). Historical melodramatist and former child star best known for the Samurai TrilogySamurai TrilogyThe Samurai Trilogy is a film trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshirō Mifune as Musashi Miyamoto and Koji Tsuruta as Kojirō Sasaki...
(1956–58), Rickshaw Man (1959) and Chushingura (1962). - Shunji IwaiShunji Iwaiis a Japanese film director/video artist, writer and documentarian.-Life and career:Iwai was born in Sendai, Japan, Miyagi prefecture. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987....
(born 1963). Director of Swallowtail ButterflySwallowtail butterflySwallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies that form the family Papilionidae. There are over 550 species, and though the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica...
and All About Lily Chou-ChouAll About Lily Chou-Chouis a 2001 Japanese film written and directed by Shunji Iwai. The film portrays the rough lives of high school children in Japan, and centres around the music of a fictional singer Lily Chou-Chou.-Plot:...
. - Keisuke KinoshitaKeisuke Kinoshitawas a Japanese film director.Although lesser known internationally than his fellow filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa , Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujirō Ozu , Keisuke Kinoshita was nonetheless a household figure at home beloved by audience and critics alike, especially in the forties through the sixties...
(1912–1998). Director best known for Twenty-Four Eyes (1954) and Carmen Comes Home (1952), Japan's first color film. - Teinosuke KinugasaTeinosuke Kinugasa-External links:* *...
(1896–1982). Pioneering director of A Page of MadnessA Page of Madness-External links:*...
(1926) and The Gate of HellJigokumonis a 1953 film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. It tells the story of a samurai who tries to marry a woman he rescues, only to discover that she is already married to someone else...
(1953). - Ryuhei KitamuraRyuhei Kitamura-External links:*...
(born 1969). A former director of pop music videos and television commercials, his films have a distinctly modern style and include VersusVersus (film)is a 2000 Japanese action/horror film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura.-Synopsis:After escaping from police custody, Prisoner KSC2-303 and a fellow escapee join with a group of mobsters in a forest that is one of the 666 portals that act as a connection between this world and the next, called "The...
, AzumiAzumiis a Japanese manga series created by Yū Koyama in 1994. The manga was originally published by Shogakukan and serialized in Big Comic Superior, and was later adapted to two feature films starring Aya Ueto, a video game and a stage play. Azumi received an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media...
and the most recent incarnation of the giant KaijuKaijuis a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
reptile, Godzilla: Final WarsGodzilla: Final Warsis a 2004 Japanese science fiction-kaiju film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, written by Wataru Mimura and Isao Kiriyama and produced by Shogo Tomiyama. It is the twenty-eighth film in the Godzilla film series, and the sixth in terms of the series' Millennium era...
. - Takeshi KitanoTakeshi Kitanois a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
(born 1947). A gifted, multi-faceted artist and performer, Kitano's best-regarded directorial efforts include SonatineSonatineis a 1993 Japanese film by Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. It won numerous awards and became one of Kitano's most successful and praised films, garnering him a sizable international fan base.-Plot:Kitano plays Murakawa, a Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life...
and Hana-biHana-bi, released in the US as "Fireworks", is a 1997 Japanese film written, directed and edited by, and starring Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. The film's score was composed by renowned Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi. This was their fourth collaboration...
. Kitano is also known for his acting, in such films as Battle RoyaleBattle Royale (film)is a 2000 Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku based on the novel of the same name. It was written by Kenta Fukasaku and stars Takeshi Kitano. The film aroused international controversy.A sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem, followed...
and TabooTaboo (1999 film)is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Nagisa Ōshima. It shows life in a samurai training school during the bakumatsu period, the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century, specifically concentrating on the issue of homosexuality in the shudō tradition in the partially-closed environment.-Plot...
. - Masaki Kobayashi (1916–1996). Director of The Human ConditionThe Human Condition (film trilogy)is a Japanese epic film trilogy made between 1959 and 1961. It is based on a novel by Gomikawa Junpei 五味川純平 .-Background:It was directed by Masaki Kobayashi and stars Tatsuya Nakadai. The trilogy follows the life of Kaji, a Japanese pacifist and socialist, as he tries to survive in the fascist...
trilogy (1956–61), Harakiri (1962) and KwaidanKwaidan (film)is a 1964 Japanese portmanteau film directed by Masaki Kobayashi; the title means 'ghost story'. It is based on stories from Lafcadio Hearn's collections of Japanese folk tales. The film consists of four separate and unrelated stories. Kwaidan is the archaic transliteration of Kaidan, meaning...
(1964). - Hirokazu KoreedaHirokazu Koreedais a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. His films explore themes of memory, death, and coming to terms with loss.Koreeda originally planned to be a novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University instead worked as an assistant director on documentaries for TV Man Union...
(born 1962). Former documentarian known internationally for the feature films MaborosiMaborosiMaborosi, known in Japan as Maboroshi no Hikari is a 1995 Japanese film by director Hirokazu Koreeda starring Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano and Takashi Naitō...
(1996), after lifeAfter LifeAfter Life, known in Japan as , is a 1998 film by Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda starring Arata, Oda Erika and Terajima Susumu.-Plot summary:...
(1999), DistanceDistance (film)Distance is a 2001 film by Japanese director Koreeda Hirokazu, starring Arata, Tadanobu Asano, Iseya Yusuke, Terajima Susumu, and Natsukawa Yui.-Plot:...
(2001) and Nobody Knows (2004). - Akira KurosawaAkira Kurosawawas a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
(1910–1998). Renowned director, whose classic films include IkiruIkiruis a 1952 Japanese film co-written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a minor Tokyo bureaucrat and his final quest for meaning. The film stars Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe.-Plot:...
, RashomonRashomon (film)The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
, Seven Samurai, KagemushaKagemushais a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa. The title is a term used for an impersonator. It is set in the Warring States era of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate a dying warlord in order to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable...
and RanRan (film)is a 1985 Japanese-French jidaigeki film written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film starred Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons. It also stars Mieko Harada as the wife of Ichimonji's eldest son...
. - Kiyoshi KurosawaKiyoshi Kurosawais a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre.-Biography:Born in Kobe on July 19, 1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to director Akira Kurosawa...
(born 1955). Not related to the other Kurosawa, his films include CureCure (film)is a 1997 thriller film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, starring Koji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki and Anna Nakagawa.- Synopsis :...
and the J-HorrorJ-HorrorJapanese horror, or J-Horror, is Japanese horror fiction in popular culture, noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments...
hit, KairoKairo (film)is a 2001 Japanese horror film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The film was based on his novel of the same name, and was released in the United States in 2005 as Pulse. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...
. - Takashi MiikeTakashi Miikeis a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...
(born 1960). Prolific director of often bizarre and violent films. He is best known in the West for Audition, Ichi the KillerIchi the Killeris a 2001 Japanese film directed by Takashi Miike, based on Hideo Yamamoto's manga series of the same name.- Plot : While alone with a prostitute, crime lord Anjo is brutally murdered...
, The Happiness of the KatakurisThe Happiness of the Katakurisis a 2001 film directed by Takashi Miike, with screenplay by Kikumi Yamagishi. It is loosely based on the South Korean film The Quiet Family. The film is a surreal horror-comedy in the farce tradition, which includes claymation sequences, musical and dance numbers, a karaoke-style sing-along...
. - Hayao MiyazakiHayao Miyazakiis a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
(born 1941). Acclaimed anime director and head of Studio GhibliStudio Ghibliis a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
. His creations include Princess MononokePrincess Mononokeis a 1997 epic Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. is not a name, but a general term in the Japanese language for a spirit or monster...
, Spirited AwaySpirited Awayis a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood and after her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba,...
and most recently, Ponyo on the Cliff by the SeaPonyo on the Cliff by the Sea, initially titled in English as Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. It is Miyazaki's eighth film for Ghibli, and his tenth overall...
. - Kenji MizoguchiKenji MizoguchiKenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...
(1898–1956). Important, influential director of The Life of OharuThe Life of Oharuis a 1952 historical fiction black-and-white film by director Kenji Mizoguchi starring Kinuyo Tanaka as Oharu, a one-time concubine of a daimyō who struggles to escape the stigma of having been sold into prostitution by her father...
(1952), Ugetsu MonogatariUgetsuUgetsu is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Set in 16th century Japan, it stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō, and is inspired by short stories by Ueda Akinari and Guy de Maupassant...
(1953), and Sansho the BailiffSansho the Bailiff-External links:* at the Japanese Movie Database* * and QuickTime trailer* essay by Mark Le Fanu...
(1954). - Hideo NakataHideo NakataHideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker.-Life and career:Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as Ring , Ring 2 and Dark Water...
(born 1961). Director of modern J-Horror films such as RingRing (film)is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family...
and Dark WaterDark Water (2002 film)Dark Water is a 2002 Japanese drama-horror film directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of Ring and Ring 2. Dark Water is based on Floating Water, a short story by Koji Suzuki. Its Japanese name is Honogurai mizu no soko kara , which is also the name of the horror anthology by Koji Suzuki...
. - Mikio NaruseMikio Narusewas a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who directed some 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967.Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook...
(1905–1969). Influential director of Flowing (1956) and When a Woman Ascends the StairsWhen a Woman Ascends the Stairsis a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse.Keiko, a young widow, becomes a bar hostess in Ginza to make ends meet. The story recounts the struggles to maintain her independence in a male-dominated society...
(1960). His 1935 Wife, Be Like A Rose was among the first Japanese films to gain an American theatrical release. - Kihachi OkamotoKihachi Okamotowas a Japanese film director who has worked in several different genres, including jidaigeki.-Career:Born in Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted in 1943 and entered World War II during its most difficult hours, an experience that had a profound effect on his later film work,...
(1923–2005). Prolific director. Best known in the West for his nihilistic samurai film "The Sword of Doom" (1966) - Nagisa OshimaNagisa Oshimais a Japanese film director and screenwriter. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959....
(born 1932). A key figure in the Japanese new wave, known for Cruel Story Of YouthCruel Story Of Youth, was the second film directed by Nagisa Oshima.Oshima, who was only 28 at the time, made extensive use of hand-held cameras and location shooting, and the results drew comparisons to the French nouvelle vague filmmakers emerging at around the same time; the film became one of the primary films in...
(1960), Night And Fog In Japan (1960), In the Realm of the SensesIn the Realm of the Sensesis a 1976 Franco-Japanese romantic drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an incident from 1930s Japan, that of Sada Abe...
(1976) and Merry Christmas, Mr. LawrenceMerry Christmas, Mr. LawrenceMerry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a 1983 film directed by Nagisa Oshima, produced by Jeremy Thomas and starring Jack Thompson, David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yuya Uchida, and Takeshi Kitano.It was written by Oshima and Paul Mayersberg and based on Laurens van der Post's experiences...
(1983). - Yasujiro OzuYasujiro Ozuwas a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
(1903–1963). Influential director of Late SpringLate Springis a critically acclaimed black-and-white Japanese film drama, directed by Yasujirō Ozu , first released in Japan in September 1949. Based on the novel Father and Daughter by Kazuo Hirotsu, the story concerns a young woman who lives happily in Kamakura with her kindly professor father, a widower...
(1949), Early SummerEarly Summeris a 1951 film by Yasujiro Ozu. Like most of Ozu's post-war films, Early Summer deals with many issues ranging from communication problems between generations and the rising role of women in post-war Japan....
(1951), Tokyo StoryTokyo Storyis a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their biological children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their daughter-in-law, who treats them with...
(1953), and Good MorningGood Morning (film)is a 1959 comedy film by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. It is a loose remake of his own 1932 silent film I Was Born, But..., and one of only six films that Ozu made in color.-Plot:...
(1959) - Katsuhiro OtomoKatsuhiro Otomois a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...
(born 1954). MangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
artist and anime director responsible for AkiraAkira (film)is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
and SteamboySteamboyis a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk film, produced by Sunrise, and directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release, following Akira. The film was released in Japan on July 17, 2004. Steamboy is the most expensive full length Japanese animated movie made to date...
. - Kaneto ShindoKaneto Shindo, Hiroshima, Japan) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His best known films include Children of Hiroshima, The Naked Island, Onibaba, Kuroneko and A Last Note.Shindō has often made films dealing with Hiroshima or the atomic bomb...
(born 1912). Director of Naked Island (1960) and Onibaba (1964). - Hiroshi Teshigahara (1927–2001). Experimental filmmaker associated with the 60s new wave; best known for The Pitfall (1962) and Woman in the DunesWoman in the Dunesis a film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and based on the novel of the same name by Kōbō Abe. The novel was published in 1962, and the film was released in 1964. Kōbō Abe also wrote the screenplay for the film version....
(1964). - Shiro ToyodaShiro Toyodawas a Japanese film director.-Career:Born in Kyoto, Toyoda moved to Tokyo in his teens and began studying under the pioneering film director Eizō Tanaka. He joined Shōchiku's Kamata studio in 1924 and worked as an assistant director under Yasujirō Shimazu...
(1906–1977). Satirist and dramatist best known for a 1959 adaptation of Yasunari KawabataYasunari Kawabatawas a Japanese short story writer and novelist whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award...
's Snow Country. - Sadao YamanakaSadao Yamanakawas a Japanese film director and writer who directed 24 films during a seven-year period in the 1930s. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the jidaigeki, or historical film. Yamanaka died of dysentary in...
(1909–1938). Humanity and Paper BalloonsHumanity and Paper Balloonsis 1937 black-and-white film directed by Sadao Yamanaka. It is his last film. Largely unknown outside of Japan until recent years, the film has been hailed by critics , and a number of other Japanese filmmakers as one of the most influential examples of jidaigeki, or Japanese period films...
, one of very few surviving works directed by Yamanaka, who was acknowledged as an influence by both Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.
South Korea
- Bong Joon-hoBong Joon-hoBong Joon-ho is a South Korean film director and screenwriter.-Biography:He was born in Daegu in 1969 and decided to become a filmmaker while in middle school, perhaps influenced by an artistic family He majored in sociology in Yonsei University in the late 1980s and was a member of the film club...
(born 1969) Director of critically acclaimed Memories of MurderMemories of MurderMemories of Murder is a 2003 South Korean crime-drama film directed by Bong Joon-ho. It is based on the true story of the country's first known serial murders, which took place between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province...
(2003) and GwoemulThe Host (film)The Host is a 2006 South Korean monster film, which also contains elements of comedy and drama films. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho, who co-wrote the screenplay, along with Baek Chul-hyun....
(aka The Host, 2006), Korea's most successful film of all time. - Im Kwon-taekIm Kwon-taekIm Kwon-taek is one of South Korea's most renowned film directors. In an active and prolific career, his films have won many domestic and international film festival awards as well as considerable box-office success, and helped bring international attention to the Korean film industry.- Early life...
(born 1936). One of Korea's most acclaimed directors. Director of SopyonjeSopyonjeSopyonje is a South Korean film directed by Im Kwon-taek in 1993. Its story tells of a family of traditional Korean pansori singers trying to make a living in the modern world. The film was originally expected to only draw limited interest, and was released on only one screen in Seoul...
(1993) and Chihwaseon (2002). - Kang Je-gyuKang Je-gyuKang Je-gyu is a South Korean film director. He studied in Chungang University.He firstly got his prize in Korea Youth Film festival and Korea Scenario Awards in 1991.-Career:...
(born 1962). Director of the hit Korean film, ShiriShiri (film)Shiri is a 1999 South Korean action film, written and directed by Kang Je-gyu.Swiri was the first Hollywood-style big-budget blockbuster to be produced in the "new" Korean film industry...
and the war film TaegukgiTaegukgi (film)Taegukgi Hwinallimyo is a 2004 South Korean war film directed by Kang Je-gyu. It tells the story about the effect of the Korean War on two brothers. The film's title is the name of the pre-war Flag of Korea as well as the postwar Flag of South Korea...
(aka Brotherhood), one of the highest grossing films in Korean history. - Kim Ji-woonKim Ji-WoonKim Ji-woon is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Kim Ji-woon has a history of successfully tackling a wide range of film genres, garnering a cult following among Asian films fans all over the world.-Career:...
(born 1964). Director of The Quiet FamilyThe Quiet FamilyThe Quiet Family is a 1998 South Korean comedy horror film. It was director Kim Ji-woon's feature film debut. The story centers around a family who owns a hunting lodge in a remote area, whose customers always happen to end up dying...
(1998), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), and A Bittersweet LifeA Bittersweet LifeA Bittersweet Life is a 2005 South Korean film directed and written by Kim Ji-woon and starring Lee Byung-hun...
(2005). - Kim Ki-dukKim Ki-dukKim Ki-duk is a South Korean filmmaker noted for his idiosyncratic "art-house" cinematic works. His films have received many distinctions in the festival circuit. He is not related to the Kim Ki-duk who directed Yonggary in the 1960s...
(born 1960). Best known in the West for the hit films The IsleThe IsleThe Isle is a 2000 South Korean film written and directed by Kim Ki-duk. The film was the fifth film made by Kim, and the first to receive wider international acclaim for his recognizable style...
, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring and 3-Iron3-Iron3-Iron is a 2004 Korean film directed by Kim Ki-duk. The plot revolves around the relationship between a young drifter and an abused housewife...
. - Kim Ki-youngKim Ki-youngKim Ki-young was a South Korean film director, known for his intensely psychosexual and melodramatic horror films, often focusing on the psychology of their female characters. Kim was born in Seoul during the Japanese occupation, raised in Pyongyang and spent time in Japan, where he became...
(1919–1998). Director of The HousemaidThe HousemaidThe Housemaid is a 1960 black-and-white Korean film. It was directed by Kim Ki-young and starred Lee Eun-shim, Ju Jeung-nyeo and Kim Jin Kyu. It has been described in Koreanfilm.org as a "consensus pick as one of the top three Korean films of all time". This was the first film in Kim's Housemaid...
(1960). - Na Woon-gyuNa Woon-gyuNa Woon-gyu was a Korean actor, screenwriter and director. He is widely considered the most important filmmaker in early Korean cinema, and possibly Korea's first true movie star...
(1902–1937). Korea's first star. Writer/director/actor of ArirangArirang (1926 film)Arirang is a 1926 Korean film. One of the earliest feature films to be made in the country, it is named after the traditional song Arirang, which audiences were said to sing at the conclusion of the film. The silent, black and white film was written and directed by Na Un'gyu , and stars Na Un'gyu,...
(1926). - Park Chan-wookPark Chan-wookPark Chan-wook is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. One of the most acclaimed and popular filmmakers in his native country, Park is most known for his films Joint Security Area, Thirst and what has become known as The Vengeance Trilogy, consisting of...
(born 1963). Acclaimed director known particularly for his Vengeance trilogy - Sympathy for Mr. VengeanceSympathy for Mr. VengeanceSympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a 2002 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook which follows the character Ryu trying to earn enough money for his sister's kidney transplant and the path of vengeance that follows. It is the first part of The Vengeance Trilogy and is followed by Oldboy and...
(2002), OldboyOldboyOldboy is a 2003 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook. It is based on the Japanese manga of the same name written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya. Oldboy is the second installment of The Vengeance Trilogy, preceded by Sympathy for Mr...
(2003) and Sympathy for Lady VengeanceSympathy for Lady VengeanceSympathy for Lady Vengeance is a 2008 South Korean film by director Park Chan-wook. In North America and parts of Europe, the film has been screened under the title Lady Vengeance. The film is the third installment in Park's The Vengeance Trilogy, following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy...
(2005). - Park Kwang-suPark Kwang-suPark Kwang-su is a Korean filmmaker. He was born in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, South Korea on January 22, 1955 and grew up in Busan, South Korea. Park joined the Yallasung Film Group as a student of Fine Arts at Seoul National University...
(born 1955). Director of Geu Seom e Kagoshipta (To the Starry Island) (1993) and Areumdaun Chongnyun Jeon Tae-il (A Single Spark) (1995). - Yu Hyun-mokYu Hyun-mokYu Hyun-mok was a South Korean film director. Born in Sariwon, North Hwanghae, Korea , he made his film debut in 1956 with Gyocharo...
(born 1925) Director of A Stray BulletObaltanObaltan , also known as The Aimless Bullet and Stray Bullet, is a 1960 Korean film directed by Yu Hyun-mok. The plot is based on the same titled short novel written by Yi Beomseon. It has often been called the best Korean movie ever made.-Plot:...
(1960). - Lee Chang-dongLee Chang-dongLee Chang-dong is a South Korean film director, screenwriter and novelist. He won the 2008 Special Director's Prize at the Asian Film Awards and has been nominated for the Golden Lion and Palme d'Or. Lee served as South Korea's Minister of Culture and Tourism from 2003 to 2004.-Life and career:Lee...
(born 1954) Director of Secret SunshineSecret SunshineSecret Sunshine is a 2007 South Korean film directed by acclaimed South Korean director, novelist, and former Minister of Culture Lee Chang-dong. The story focuses on a woman as she wrestles with the questions of grief, madness, and faith. The Korean title, 밀양 is given after the city that served...
(2007), OasisOasis (film)Oasis is South Korea Lee Chang-dong's third feature film, and the last one he directed before his stint as South Korea's Minister of Culture...
.
Taiwan
- King HuKing HuKing Hu was a Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based Chinese film director whose Wuxia films brought Chinese cinema to new technical and artistic heights. His films Come Drink with Me , Dragon Gate Inn and A Touch of Zen inaugurated a new generation of wuxia films in the late 1960s...
(1931–1997). Director of Come Drink With MeCome Drink with MeCome Drink with Me is a 1966 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by King Hu. Set during the Ming Dynasty, it stars Cheng Pei-pei and Yueh Hua as warriors with Chan Hung-lit as the villain, and features action choreography by Han Ying-chieh. It is widely considered one of the best Hong Kong films ever made...
(1966), Dragon Gate InnDragon Gate InnDragon Gate Inn, also known as Dragon Inn, is a 1967 Taiwanese wuxia film directed by King Hu. The film was remade in 1992, as New Dragon Gate Inn, and is again being remade as The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, which is to be released in 2011.-Plot:Tsao, the emperor's first eunuch, has successfully...
(1967) and A Touch of ZenA Touch of ZenA Touch of Zen is a 1971 Taiwanese wuxia film directed by King Hu. The film won significant critical acclaim and became the first Chinese language action film ever to win a prize at the Cannes Film Festival, claiming the Technical Grand Prize award....
(1971). - Hou Hsiao-HsienHou Hsiao-HsienHou Hsiao-Hsien is an award-winning film director and a leading figure of Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement.-Biography:...
(born 1947) Director of A City of SadnessA City of SadnessA City of Sadness is a 1989 Taiwanese historical drama film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. It tells the story of a family embroiled in the tragic "White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government after their arrival from mainland China in the late 1940s, during...
(1989). - Edward YangEdward YangEdward Yang , along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming Liang, was one of the leading filmmakers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi .-Biography:...
(1947–2007). Director of A Brighter Summer DayA Brighter Summer DayA Brighter Summer Day is a nearly four-hour long, 1991 Taiwanese drama film directed by Taiwanese director Edward Yang...
(1991) and Yi Yi (2000). - Ang LeeAng LeeAng Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
(born 1954). Director based in the US, whose diverse films include Sense and SensibilitySense and SensibilitySense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is a British romance novel by Jane Austen, her first published work under the pseudonym, "A Lady." Jane Austen is considered a pioneer of the romance genre of novels, and for the realism portrayed in her novels, is one the most widely read writers in...
, Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
, HulkHulk (film)Hulk is a 2003 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name. Ang Lee directed the film, which stars Eric Bana as Dr. Bruce Banner, as well as Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, and Nick Nolte...
and Brokeback MountainBrokeback MountainBrokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...
. - Tsai Ming-liangTsai Ming-liangTsai Ming-liang is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese Cinema, along with earlier contemporaries such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang...
(born 1957). Director of Vive L'AmourVive L'AmourVive L'Amour is a 1994 Taiwanese New Wave film by Tsai Ming-liang. It is a slow-paced film with sparse dialogue about urban alienation, centering on three people who unknowingly share an apartment in Taipei.-Plot:...
(1994) and What Time Is It There?What Time Is It There?What Time Is It There? is a 2001 film directed by Tsai Ming-liang. It stars Lee Kang-sheng, Chen Shiang-chyi, and Lu Yi-Ching.-Plot:The film tells two parallel stories, one about the life of a street vendor following the death of his father; the other about a woman he meets briefly as she heads...
(2001).
Prominent actors
- Tadanobu AsanoTadanobu Asano, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin...
- Jackie ChanJackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
- Chang ChenChang ChenChang Chen is a Taiwanese actor, born in Taipei, Taiwan. His name is sometimes seen in the Western order . He is the son of a Taiwanese actor Chang Kuo Chu and brother of a Taiwanese actor, Chang Han .-Career:...
- Joan ChenJoan ChenJoan Chong Chen is a Chinese American actress, film director, screenwriter and film producer. She became famous in China for her performance in the 1979 film Little Flower and came to international attention for her performance in the 1987 Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor...
- Choi Min-sikChoi Min-sikChoi Min-sik is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his critically acclaimed roles in Oldboy and I Saw the Devil.-Movie career:...
- Stephen ChowStephen ChowStephen Chow Sing-Chi is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.- Professional career :Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB. He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films. Chow graduated from...
- Chow Yun-fatChow Yun-FatChow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
- Leslie CheungLeslie CheungLeslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...
- Maggie CheungMaggie CheungMaggie Cheung Man yuk is a Chinese actress from Hong Kong. Raised in England and Hong Kong, she has over 70 films to her credit since starting her career in 1983...
- Gong LiGong LiGong Li is a Chinese film actress. Gong first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou and is credited with helping to bring Chinese cinema to Europe and the United States....
- Setsuko HaraSetsuko Harais a Japanese actress who appeared in six of Yasujirō Ozu's films, most notably as Noriko in the 'Noriko Trilogy': Late Spring , Early Summer and Tokyo Story . Her other films for Ozu were Tokyo Twilight , Late Autumn and finally The End of Summer in 1961.She was born 会田 昌江 Masae Aida in...
- Jiang WenJiang WenJiang Wen is a Chinese film actor and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "sixth generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred with Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's debut film Red Sorghum...
- Takeshi KaneshiroTakeshi KaneshiroTakeshi Kaneshiro , born October 11, 1973, is a Taiwan-born Japanese actor and singer.-Name:...
- Louis KooLouis KooLouis Koo is a Hong Kong actor. He was once a notable local television series actor, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 for Detective Investigation Files IV. In recent years, he has focused on film...
- Rosamund KwanRosamund KwanRosamund Kwan Chi-lam is a Chinese actress born in Hong Kong with ancestry in Shenyang, Liaoning in China on her father's side and from Shanghai on her mother's side. She is the daughter of Shaw Brothers star Kwan Shan and actress Cheung Bing Sai...
- Machiko KyōMachiko Kyois a Japanese actress whose film work occurred primarily during the 1950s. She rose to extraordinary domestic praise in Japan for her work in two of the greatest Japanese films of the 20th century, Akira Kurosawa's Rashōmon and Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu.Machiko trained to be a dancer before...
- Andy LauAndy LauAndy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...
- Tony Leung Chiu WaiTony Leung Chiu WaiTony Leung Chiu-Wai is a Hong Kong film actor and former TVB actor. A major film star since the 1990s, Leung has won nine Hong Kong Film Awards and three Golden Horse Best Actor awards...
- Tony Leung Ka-FaiTony Leung Ka-FaiTony Leung Ka-fai is a three-time Hong Kong Film Award-winning Chinese film actor.Because he is often confused with actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Tony Leung Ka-fai is known as "Big Tony", while Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is known as "Little Tony", nicknames which correspond to the actors' respective...
- Brigitte LinBrigitte LinBrigitte Lin or Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia is a Taiwanese actress. She was a popular actress, regarded as an icon of Chinese cinema, who acted in both Taiwanese and Hong Kong movies...
- Bruce LeeBruce LeeBruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
- Lee Byung-HunLee Byung-HunLee Byung-hun is a South Korean actor, singer and model. He has starred in popular television dramas such as Iris , All In and Beautiful Days...
- Lee Young AeLee Young AeLee Young Ae is a South Korean actress.-Career:Lee made her debut as a TV model in 1991. After appearing in TV commercials, she started playing in TV dramas and movies....
- Jet LiJet LiThe fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
- Toshirō MifuneToshiro MifuneToshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
- Tatsuya NakadaiTatsuya Nakadaiis a Japanese leading film actor.He became a star after he was discovered working as a Tokyo shop clerk by filmmaker Masaki Kobayashi during the early 1950s...
- Chishu RyuChishu Ryuwas a famous Japanese film actor, a favourite of the director Yasujiro Ozu. From 1928 to 1992 he appeared in at least 155 films, including Ozu's Tokyo Story and Yoshitaro Nomura's Castle of Sand...
- Hiroyuki SanadaHiroyuki Sanadais a Japanese actor.-Life and career:Sanada was born in Tokyo. Originally aiming to be an action star, starting with shorinji kempo, he eventually took up Kyokushin kaikan Sanada began training at age 11 with actor and martial arts star Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club where he developed good...
- Song Kang-hoSong Kang-hoSong Kang-ho is a leading South Korean film actor.- Career:Song Kang-ho never professionally trained as an actor, beginning his career in social theater groups after graduating from Kimhae High School...
- Faye WongFaye WongFaye Wong is a highly successful and influential Chinese singer-songwriter and actress who is usually referred to as a diva . Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong . Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and rose to stardom in the early 1990s by singing...
- Koji Yakusho
- Michelle YeohMichelle YeohMichelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng is a Hong Kong-based Malaysian Chinese actress, well known for performing her own stunts in the action films that brought her to fame in the early 1990s....
- Yuen BiaoYuen BiaoYuen Biao is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer...
- Zhang ZiyiZhang ZiyiZhang Ziyi is a Chinese film actress. Zhang is coined by the media as one of the Four Young Dan actresses in the Film Industry in China, along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei, and Zhou Xun...
- Takuya KimuraTakuya Kimura, nicknamed , is a Japanese singer and actor. He is also a member of the Japanese idol group SMAP. Most of the TV dramas he starred in produced high ratings in Japan...
- Song Hye-Kyo
See also
- Cinema of the world
- World cinemaWorld cinemaWorld cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the films and film industries of non-English speaking countries. It is therefore often used interchangeably with the term foreign film...
- Asian cinemaAsian cinemaAsian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Asia, and is also sometimes known as Eastern cinema. More commonly however, it is used to refer to the cinema of Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Asia. West Asian cinema is sometimes classified as part of Middle...
- Southeast Asian cinemaSoutheast Asian cinemaSoutheast Asian cinema refers to the film industry and films produced in, and/or by natives of, Southeast Asia. By definition, it describes any films produced in Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.Southeast Asian cinema...
- South Asian cinemaSouth Asian cinemaSouth Asian cinema refers to the cinema of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.The terms Asian cinema, Eastern cinema and Oriental cinema in common usage often encompass South Asia as well as East Asia and South East Asia...
- Middle Eastern cinemaMiddle Eastern cinemaWest Asian cinema refers collectively to the film output and film industries of West Asia.This particular refers to the sizeable industries of Iran, and Turkey...
- Nuberu baguNuberu baguThe Japanese New Wave, or , is the term for a group of Japanese filmmakers emerging from the late 1950s through the early 1970s. The term also refers to their work, in a loose creative movement within Japanese film, from a similar time period.- History :...
(The Japanese New Wave)
Further reading
- Contemporary Asian Cinema, Anne Tereska Ciecko, editor. Berg, 2006. ISBN 1 84520237 6
- East Asian Cinemas, Leon Hunt & Wing-Fai Leung, editors, Tauris, 2008. ISBN 9781845116149
Collections
- https://mahimahi.uchicago.edu/admin/ceas/East Asia Film Library Collection: Center for East Asian Studies, University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
]
External links
- Asia Society: Film - news, reviews and interviews related to Asian Film
- Asian Cinema Search at Google Co-op
- BTasia.org - Asian bittorrent community - Asian movies, TV series and more.