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30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025

Iwai Shunji

IWAI Shunji (1963, Japan) graduated from Yokohama National University in 1987. He wrote and directed numerous music videos, commercials and television dramas before he moved to cinema. His TV drama Fireworks, Should We See It From the Side or the Bottom? (1993) earned him the Director’s Guild of Japan New Directors Award. He made his feature film debut Love Letter in 1995. Swallowtail Butterfly (1996) was nominated for the Golden St. George at Moscow International Film Festival. Vampire (2011) marked Iwai’s English-language film debut and was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. For his 2016 film A Bride for Rip van Winkle, he was inspired by internet dating. The film was released in multiple versions, including a six-episode television series. In 2016, he also received a Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award at New York Asian Film Festival. Besides directing, he has written several essays, novels and screenplays, as well as composing the soundtrack for seven of his films. In 2018, he adapted one of his novels into Chinese-language film Last Letter before releasing a Japanese adaptation with the same name in 2020.

Filmography

Mina Densetsu (1986, short), Yonimo kimyô na monogatari/Tales of the Bizarre (1990-1992, TV series), Mishiranu waga ko/Unknown Child (1991, TV), Koroshi ni ki ta otoko/The Man Who Came to Kill (1991, TV), Maria (1992, TV), Geshi monogatari (1992, TV short), Omuretsu/Omelette (1992, TV short), Kani kan (1992, TV short), Ghost Soup (1992, TV), Yuki no osama (1993, TV), Fried Dragon Fish (1993, TV), Uchiage hanabi, shita kara miru ka? Yoko kara miru ka?/Fireworks, Should We See It From the Side or the Bottom (1993, TV), Runatikku rabu/Lunatic Love (1994, TV short), Undo (1994, short), Love Letter (1995), Pikunikku/Picnic (1996), Suwarôteiru/Swallowtail Butterfly (1996), Shigatsu monogatari/April Story (1998), Riri Shushu no subete/All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), Jam Films (2002, co-dir, segment: Arita), Hana to Arisu/Hana and Alice (2004), Ichikawa Kon monogatari/The Kon Ichikawa Story (2006, doc), New York, I Love You (2008, co-dir, segment: Shunji Iwai), Friends After 3.11 (2011, doc), Vampire (2011), Hana to Arisu satsujin jiken/The Murder Case of Hana & Alice (2015), Rippu Van Winkuru no hanayome/A Bride for Rip van Winkle (2016), Rippu Van Winkuru no hanayome – serial edition/A Bride for Rip van Winkle – serial edition (2016, TV series), Chang-ok’s Letter (2017, TV series), Ni hao, Zhihua/Last Letter (2018), Last Letter (2020), The 12 Day Tale of the Monster That Died in 8 (2020)

More info: Wikipedia, Iwai Shunji

Iwai Shunji at IFFR