News

2022.12.05Events: Director Kawase to give lecture as part of the 2022 Kochi-Prefecture Cultural Human Resource Development Program
2022.11.14Info: "Tokyo 2020 Olympics SIDE:A/SIDE:B" to be screened at the 52nd International Film Festival Rotterdam!
2022.11.09Info: Naomi Kawase Appointed President of the Jury for the 44th Cairo International Film Festival!
2021.12.02Info: Naomi Kawase's Designation as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador
2021.09.15Events: 『なら国際映画祭 for Youth 2021』開催決定
2020.03.26Media: Media Coverage: Tokyu Hotels Magazine "COMFORTS".
2020.03.03Info: The new film "ASA GA KURU" will be released on June 5th
2020.01.28Info: The interview of the "NHK WORLD"
2019.12.25Events: "Naomi Kawase retrospective" at the National Film Archive of Japan
2019.10.17Info: ANA interview "Ready For Takeoff"

Profile

Naomi KAWASE

A filmmaker who continues to create films based in Nara, where she was born and raised.
Eclipsing the boundaries between documentary and fiction in consistent pursuit of a ‘reality’, she has won numerous awards at Cannes and other international film festivals.

While expanding her creative activities globally, she founded the Nara International Film Festival in 2010 in her hometown of Nara, dedicating herself to nurturing the next generation of filmmakers.
From 2018 to 2019, a large-scale exhibition titled “Naomi Kawase” was held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

She has served as Director of the Official Film of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games; Producer and Senior Advisor for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai; President of the Women’s Japan Basketball League; UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador; and Special International Ambassador of Nara Prefecture. She also serves as Senior Advisor and Theme Project Producer for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.

In addition to filmmaking, she works across genres as a commercial director, essayist, DJ, actor, and calligrapher. In her private life, she has been growing rice for more than a decade.

1989: Graduated from the Film Department of Osaka School of Photography (now Osaka Visual Arts Academy).
1995: Her independent films Embracing and Katatsumori gained attention both in Japan and internationally, starting from the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.
1997: Her theatrical debut Suzaku won the Camera d’Or (Best First Feature) at the Cannes Film Festival, making her the youngest recipient in the award’s history.
2000: Hotaru (Firefly) received the FIPRESCI Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Locarno International Film Festival.
2006: Tarachime received the Special Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.
2007: The Mourning Forest won the Grand Prix (Jury Prize) at the Cannes Film Festival.
2009: Awarded the Carrosse d’Or (Golden Coach Award) at Cannes for her contribution to cinema.
2013: Served as a Jury Member of the Cannes Film Festival Competition Section.
2015: Awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (France).
Sweet Bean became a major domestic and international success.
2016: Appointed President of the Jury for the Cinéfondation and Short Films section at Cannes.
2017: Radiance received the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Directed the theater opera Tosca at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre.
2018: Appointed Official Film Director of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Vision (starring Juliette Binoche) released worldwide.
Held the 5th Nara International Film Festival.
Large-scaled “Naomi Kawase” exhibition held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
2019: “Naomi Kawase” exhibition held at the National Film Archive of Japan.
2020: True Mothers was selected for the Cannes 2020 and chosen as Japan’s official submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Received seven Excellence Awards at the Japan Academy Film Prize.
Appointed Producer and Senior Advisor for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.
2021: Appointed President of the Women’s Japan Basketball League.
Appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
2022: Awarded the Officier of the Order of Arts and Letters (France).
Tokyo 2020 Olympics SIDE:A selected for the Cannes Classics section.
2024: Appointed Special International Ambassador of Nara Prefecture.
2025: As Theme Project Producer for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, announced the signature pavilion
Dialogue Theater – sign of life –.
New film YAKUSHIMA’s Illusion had its world premiere at the 78th Locarno International Film Festival.
Won Best Actress at the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival for her performance in Ryutaro Nakagawa’s Echoes of Motherhood.
Received the 1st TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY AWARD at Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia.
Honored with the TW Icon Awards by Tokyo Weekender 55th Anniversary Project.
2026: Her first narrative feature in six years, YAKUSHIMA’s Illusion, released theatrically.