Shinji Sōmai

Shinji Sōmai
Born	13 January 1948 Morioka, Iwate, Japan
Died	9 September 2001 (aged 53) Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1980-2000

Shinji Sōmai (相米 慎二 Sōmai Shinji, 13 January 1948 – 9 September 2001) was a Japanese film director. He directed 13 films between 1980 and 2000.

Career

His film Moving was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.^[1] His 1998 film, Wait and See, won the FIPRESCI prize at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival in 1999.^[2]

Style and influences

The Edinburgh International Film Festival artistic director Chris Fujiwara noted that American film director Nicholas Ray and French film director Jean Vigo shared Somai's sensibilites.^[3]

Filmography

• Tonda Couple (1980)
• Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981)
• P.P. Rider (1983)
• The Catch (1983)
• Love Hotel (1985)
• Typhoon Club (1985)
• Lost Chapter of Snow: Passion (1985)
• Luminous Woman (1987)
• Tokyo Heaven (1990)
• Moving (1993)
• The Friends (1994)
• Wait and See (1998)
• Kaza-hana (2000)

Further reading

• Kimura, Tatsuya; Nakamura, Hideyuki; Fujii, Jinshi, eds. (2011). 甦る相米慎二 [Shinji Somai: A Film Director in the Japanese Post-Studio Era] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Inscrpit. ISBN 978-4-900997-32-5.

References

1. "Festival de Cannes: Moving". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
2. Elley, Derek (21 February 1999). "'Line' best in Berlin - Variety". Variety.
3. Dunn, Jamie (28 May 2012). "Forgotten Man: EIFF director Chris Fujiwara on Shinji Somai". The Skinny.

External links

• Shinji Sōmai at the Internet Movie Database
• Shinji Sōmai at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)