Education
Shinshu University.
熊井 啓
Shinshu University.
After his studies in literature at Shinshu University, he worked as director"s assistant. His 1972 film Shinobu Kawa was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1974 film Rise, Fair Sun was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival.
Perhaps his best-known film is 8, which received widespread acclaim for tackling the issue of a woman forced into prostitution in Borneo before the outbreak of World World War World War II The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 48th Academy Awards.
Kumai"s follow-up film was 1976"s Cape of North, starring French actress Claude Jade as a Swiss nun who falls in love with a Japanese engineer on a trip from Marseilles to Yokohama. In 1992, his film Luminous Moss was entered into the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.
Other works include, Death of a Tea Master starring Toshirō Mifune as Senator no Rikyū (Silver Lion at the 1989 Venice Film Festival) and the 2002 film The Sea Is Watching, based on Akira Kurosawa"s last script.