Susumu Hani

Susumu Hani is one of those filmmakers who never felt the need to announce himself loudly — born in 1928, he came up in a Japan that was still figuring out what cinema could be, and he quietly helped answer that question. A screenwriter, documentarian, and director all at once, he's the kind of craftsman who saw "filmmaker" as a full-body discipline, not a job title. His 1962 Japan Directors Guild newcomer award tells you he had an uncommon eye from early on — that still, observational quality you feel in the best Japanese documentary work of that era, where the camera doesn't impose, it just watches. He never seemed chasing trends, and honestly that's probably why his work has outlasted a lot of flashier contemporaries. A quiet giant, in the best possible sense.

Susumu Hani is a Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter born on October 10, 1928, in Tokyo. He works across scripting, directing, and documentary filmmaking, establishing himself as a multifaceted visual storyteller. In 1962 he received the Japan Film Directors Association New Directors Award, marking early recognition of his talent.

Name (English)

Susumu Hani

Name (Japanese)

羽仁進

Reading

はに すすむ

Born

October 10, 1928 (age 97)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Dragon (辰)

Origin

Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

Screenwriter / Filmmaker / Film Director / Documentary Film Director

Awards & achievements

• 1962 — Japan Film Directors Association New Directors Award

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BE%BD%E4%BB%81%E9%80%B2

Tags

• From Tokyo
• Screenwriter
• Filmmaker
• Film Director

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.