was a Japanese

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. His son, , is also a film director.

Career

Born in Tokyo, Satō graduated from the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

in 1956 with a degree in

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

. He joined the Toei studio and worked as an assistant to such directors as

Tadashi Imai was a Japanese film director known for social realist filmmaking informed by a left-wing perspective. His most noted films include '' An Inlet of Muddy Water'' (1953) and '' Bushido, Samurai Saga'' (1963). Life Although leaning towards left-win ...

and

Miyoji Ieki was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He often made adolescents the protagonists of his films, which addressed political themes through personal drama. His most noted works include '' Stepbrothers'' (1957) and '' Naked Sun'' (1958). Li ...

. He debuted as a director in 1963 with Rikugun Zangyaku Monogatari, for which he won a best newcomer's award at the

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan, established in 1950 by , established under the name of the "Association of Tokyo Film Journalists Award", which was formed mainly by film reporters from th ...

. While starting in mostly

yakuza film is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of ''yakuza'', Japanese organized crime syndicates. In the silent film era, depictions of '' bakuto'' (precursors to modern yakuza) as sympathetic Robin Hood- ...

, Satō eventually became known for big budget spectaculars. '' The Go Masters'', a China-Japan co-production he co-directed with Duan Jishun, won the grand prize at the

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year The of the Japan Academy Film Prize The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本ア� ...

in 1989 for ''

The Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

''. Sato died in Tokyo on 9 February 2019.

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1932 births 2019 deaths Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners Japanese film directors Film people from Tokyo University of Tokyo alumni Japanese screenwriters {{Japan-film-director-stub