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Tsukamoto Shinya

TSUKAMOTO Shinya (1960, Japan) was given a Super-8 camera at the age of 14. He began acting, studied art at university and then directed commercials for four years. His first feature Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) and its sequel Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992), about the bizarre metamorphosis of a Japanese businessman into a mass of metal, acquired him worldwide status as a cult filmmaker. Tsukamoto acts in almost all his own films and was part of the cast of Martin SCORSESE’s Silence (2016) and Takashi MIIKE’s Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000). Hokage (2023) marks the 13th year he has been selected for IFFR.

Filmography

(selection) Futsu saizu no kaijin/The Phantom of the Regular Size (1986, short), Denchu Kozo no boken/The Adventure of Denchu Kozo (1987, short), Tetsuo – The Iron Man (1989), Hiroku the Goblin (1990), Tetsuo II – Body Hammer (1992), Tokyo Fist (1995), Bullet Ballet (1998), Sôseiji/Gemini (1999), Rogatsu no hebi/A Snake of June (2002), Vital (2004), Haze (2005), Akumu tantei/Nightmare Detective (2006), Akumu tantei 2/Nightmare Detective 2 (2008), Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2010), Kaidan – Horror Classics (2010, segment Hazaruka to mateki/The Whistler), Kotoko (2011), Nobi/Fires on the Plain (2014), Zan/Killing (2018), Hokage/Shadow of Fire (2023)

More Info: Wikipedia, Tsukamoto Shinya

Tsukamoto Shinya at IFFR

  • Shadow of Fire

    A candidly realistic and moving post-WW2 drama from a leading contemporary Japanese filmmaker.

    • Harbour

  • Nightmare Detective

    Female detective (the Japanese pop star Hitomi) investigates a series of suspicious ‘suicides’. For that she needs the help of the ‘Nightmare Detectiv

    • Rotterdämmerung

  • Gemini

    Tsukamoto Shinya’s (Tetsuo, Tokyo Fist) extremely entertaining new film tells a story of class distinction, voluntary and involuntary memory loss, psy

    • no cherry blossoms

  • Haze

    Dilemma. A man tries to escape from a claustrophobic space. An actor is caught by a video camera. No escape possible.

    • Short: As Long As It Takes

  • Dogs

    Film noir and hard-boiled love story shot in black & white and on video, with wonderful camerawork, montage and casting about the hard female cop Miki

    • Nagasaki Shunichi - Focus

  • Some Kinda Love

    Unusual, tragicomic three-cornered relationship refers to Jules et Jim, but is about real people. The life of a urban planning official and that of an

    • Nagasaki Shunichi - Focus

  • The Adventure of Denchu Kozo

    Made a year before Tsukamoto’s breakthrough with Tetsuo. Super-8 and no-budget spectacle about a bullied schoolboy, a nice girl, time travel and the b

    • Signals: First Things First

  • Nightmare Detective 2

    A girl seeks help from the Nightmare Detective, who can enter dreams. But the detective is himself plagued by terrifying dreams. The girl doesn’t give

    • Signals: Hungry Ghosts

  • The Phantom of Regular Size

    The prototype, as it were, of Tetsuo: The Iron Man, the classic cyberpunk film that was to make Tsukamoto famous.

    • Signals: First Things First

  • Killing

    The grey colour palette, razor-sharp camerawork and pulsating synthesiser soundtrack set the tone of this bloody, nihilistic samurai film.

    • Rotterdämmerung