was a Japanese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

Biography

Masumura was born in Kōfu, Yamanashi. After dropping out of a law course at the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

he worked as an assistant director at the

Daiei Film Daiei Film Co. Ltd. (Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ''Daiei Eiga Kabushiki Kaisha'') was a Japanese film studio. Founded in 1942 as Dai Nippon Film Co., Ltd., it was one of the major studios during the postwar Golden Age of Japanese cinema, producing ...

studio, later returning to university to study philosophy; he graduated in 1949. He then won a scholarship allowing him to study film in Italy at the

Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia The Centro sperimentale di cinematografia (Experimental Film Centre or Italian National film school) was established in 1935 in Italy and aims to promote the art and technique of cinematography and film. The centre is the oldest film school in ...

under

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most ...

and

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the ...

. Masumura returned to Japan in 1953. From 1955, he worked as a second-unit director on films directed by

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Ugets ...

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary '' Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won ...

and Daisuke Ito, before directing his own first film, ''Kisses'', in 1957. Over the next three decades, he directed 58 films in a variety of genres.

Legacy

Japanese film critic

Shigehiko Hasumi (born 29 April 1936 in Roppongi, Tokyo) is a film critic and an academic researcher on French literature from Japan. He was president of the University of Tokyo from 1997 to 2001. Life and work Hasumi's father Shigeyasu was a professor at Kyo ...

said, "Young and influential filmmaker

Shinji Aoyama was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, composer, film critic, and novelist. He graduated from Rikkyo University. He won two awards at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for his film '' Eureka''. Biography Shinji Aoyama was born in Kitakyushu, ...

declared that Masumura is the most important filmmaker in the history of postwar Japanese cinema."

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1924 births 1986 deaths People from Yamanashi Prefecture Japanese film directors Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia alumni University of Tokyo alumni {{japan-film-bio-stub