Naomi Kawase

Naomi Kawase

Directing

Biography

Naomi Kawase (河瀨直美 Kawase Naomi, born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director. She graduated from Visual Arts Osaka in 1989. Many of her works have been documentaries, including Embracing, about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and Katatsumori, about the grandmother who raised her. Aside from being a filmmaker, she is the founder and Executive Director for the Nara International Film Festival.

Filmography Movies

Acting

Love & Pop movie poster

Love & Pop

Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends engage in a practice known as enjo kosai, or "compensated dating", where older men pay young girls for dates. Hiromi plunges deeper into this world to raise money for an expensive ring.

Login to unlock library

Woman speaking to Hiromi (voice)

Shara movie poster

Shara

The Aso family live in the old town of Nara. One Day, Kei, one of the Aso's twin boys suddenly disappears. Five years later seventeen-year old Shun, the remaining twin, is an art student. He now has to move forward with his life, together with his childhood friend, Yu.

Login to unlock library

Destroy Vicious movie poster

Destroy Vicious

Shining Besides Funny Moon movie poster

Shining Besides Funny Moon

A sexy mystery movie where a dominatrix and a detective get to the bottom of a string of suicides.

Login to unlock library

Shining Besides Funny Moon

Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth movie poster

Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth

Kawase tries to come to terms with her late father, whom she never knew when growing up, and contemplates getting a tattoo like his.

Login to unlock library

Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth

Embracing movie poster

Embracing

A diary film about Kawase's relationship with her grandma and her search for her father, whom she has not seen since her parents divorced during her early childhood.

Login to unlock library

Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom movie poster

Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom

Naomi Kawase's documentary about Nishii Kazuo, a photo critic. He is the last chief editor for the Camera Mainichi magazine, rushing through his time with Araki Nobuyoshi and Moriyama Daido as provocative artists in the photograph world.

Login to unlock library

Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom

Trace

Kawase pays tribute to the grandmother that raised her after being separated from her parents as a child. The film teems with memories, but it is the faded, dusty photographs capturing the kindness in her grandmother’s shy smile that truly bring the woman to life.

Login to unlock library

See Heaven movie poster

See Heaven

The sequel to Naomi Kawase's Katatsumori. The film revisits Kawase’s relationship with her "grandma", capturing their love and attachment towards each other.

Login to unlock library

The Tale of Iya movie poster

The Tale of Iya

As a tunnel construction project threatens the natural order of one of Japan's last untouched regions, an old man and his granddaughter Haruna's humble lifestyle begins to influence the outlook of a man from Tokyo.

Login to unlock library

The Tale of Iya

Production

The Mourning Forest movie poster

The Mourning Forest

A young woman working at a retirement home takes an elderly man living there on an excursion into the countryside, but the two wind up stranded in the titular forest.

Login to unlock library

The Mourning Forest

The Mourning Forest movie poster

The Mourning Forest

A young woman working at a retirement home takes an elderly man living there on an excursion into the countryside, but the two wind up stranded in the titular forest.

Login to unlock library

The Mourning Forest

The Mourning Forest movie poster

The Mourning Forest

A young woman working at a retirement home takes an elderly man living there on an excursion into the countryside, but the two wind up stranded in the titular forest.

Login to unlock library

The Mourning Forest

Shara movie poster

Shara

The Aso family live in the old town of Nara. One Day, Kei, one of the Aso's twin boys suddenly disappears. Five years later seventeen-year old Shun, the remaining twin, is an art student. He now has to move forward with his life, together with his childhood friend, Yu.

Login to unlock library

Shara movie poster

Shara

The Aso family live in the old town of Nara. One Day, Kei, one of the Aso's twin boys suddenly disappears. Five years later seventeen-year old Shun, the remaining twin, is an art student. He now has to move forward with his life, together with his childhood friend, Yu.

Login to unlock library

Suzaku movie poster

Suzaku

Depicts the life of a family in a remote Japanese timber village. Family head Tahara Kozo lives with his mother Sachiko, wife Yasuyo, nephew Eisuke and young daughter Michiru. Economic recession and failed development plans cause tragedy in the family.

Login to unlock library

Suzaku movie poster

Suzaku

Depicts the life of a family in a remote Japanese timber village. Family head Tahara Kozo lives with his mother Sachiko, wife Yasuyo, nephew Eisuke and young daughter Michiru. Economic recession and failed development plans cause tragedy in the family.

Login to unlock library

To The FutureMOVIE

To The Future

Through this short film directed by Naomi Kawase you will witness the expressiveness of students and interviews with educators from Waldorf school’s throughout Japan.

Login to unlock library

To The FutureMOVIE

To The Future

Through this short film directed by Naomi Kawase you will witness the expressiveness of students and interviews with educators from Waldorf school’s throughout Japan.

Login to unlock library

To The FutureMOVIE

To The Future

Through this short film directed by Naomi Kawase you will witness the expressiveness of students and interviews with educators from Waldorf school’s throughout Japan.

Login to unlock library

Director of Photography

Gallery

Naomi Kawase portrait

Naomi Kawase portrait

Naomi Kawase portrait

Naomi Kawase portrait

Naomi Kawase portrait