Kaneto Shindō

新藤兼人　/　しんどうかねと

Century-spanning Japanese director and screenwriter honored with the Order of Culture

April 22, 1912 – May 29, 2012　・　Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

From Hiroshima Prefecture
Film Director
Screenwriter
Art Director

My Take

I'll be honest, the thing that floors me about Kaneto Shindō is the sheer span of him: born in 1912, still gripping a pencil and making films past his hundredth birthday. That's not a career, that's a vocation. He came out of Hiroshima and lived through the kind of poverty and wartime hardship that most filmmakers would sand down into something pretty, but I get the sense he refused to. His best work has this stubborn, unblinking gaze at ordinary people scraping by, dirt and silence and all. He racked up screenwriting prizes and even Japan's Order of Culture, yet none of it feels like a guy who got precious about prestige. I love that he just kept going, like there was always one more story nagging at him. A quiet, ferocious craftsman who left an enormous shelf of films behind.

Overview

Kaneto Shindō (1912–2012) was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and art director born in Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture. He built a prolific career spanning decades, earning multiple Mainichi Film Concours Screenplay Awards (1951, 1979, 2012) as well as the Japan Academy Prize for Best Director. In recognition of his lifetime contributions to Japanese culture, he was designated a Person of Cultural Merit in 1998 and received the Order of Culture in 2002. He also received the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Director and the Kikuchi Kan Prize in his final years, continuing to work in film until his death at age 100.

1. Profile

Name (English): Kaneto Shindō
Name (Japanese): 新藤兼人
Reading: しんどうかねと
Born: April 22, 1912 – May 29, 2012
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Taurus / Rat (子)
Origin: Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Active years: Unknown
Occupation: Film Director / Screenwriter / Art Director / Film Producer

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: Private
Debut: Unknown

Awards & achievements

2002 — Order of Culture
1998 — Person of Cultural Merit
2012 — Blue Ribbon Award for Best Director
2011 — Kikuchi Kan Prize
2012 — Mainichi Film Concours Screenplay Award
1979 — Mainichi Film Concours Screenplay Award
1951 — Mainichi Film Concours Screenplay Award
Year unknown — Japan Academy Prize for Best Director

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

6. Links

Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E8%97%A4%E5%85%BC%E4%BA%BA