is a Japanese screenwriter and film director.

Career

Born in Namegata District, Ibaraki, Yanagimachi attended the Faculty of Law at

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

but began studying filmmaking. Working as a freelance assistant director after graduating, he started his own production company in 1974 and produced the documentary film '' God Speed You! Black Emperor'' (1976) about

bōsōzoku is a Japanese youth subculture associated with customized motorcycles. The first appearance of these types of biker gangs was in the 1950s. Popularity climbed throughout the 1980s and 1990s, peaking at an estimated 42,510 members in 1982. Their ...

. He made his fiction film debut in 1979 with ''

Jūkyūsai no Chizu (English: ''A 19-Year-Old's Map'') is a 1979 coming-of-age Japanese film directed by Mitsuo Yanagimachi. It is based on the Nakagami Kenji novel of the same name. Plot Yoshioka Masaru is a 19-year-old who comes from an unhappy, impoverished bac ...

''. That and the later '' Himatsuri'' were based on novels by Kenji Nakagami. His 1982 work '' Saraba Itoshiki Daichi'' showed in the Competition at the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. His films have often focused on youth ('' Who's Camus Anyway?''), on ethnic minorities in Japan ('' Ai ni Tsuite, Tokyo''), as well as on Asia ('' Shadow of China'' and the documentary '' Tabisuru Pao-jiang-hu''). Yanagimachi was awarded the Geijutsu Senshō Prize in 1985 by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Filmography as director

# '' God Speed You! Black Emperor'' (1976; documentary) # ''

'' (A 19-Year-Old's Map) (1979) # '' Saraba Itoshiki Daichi'' (Farewell to the Land) (1982) # '' Himatsuri'' (Fire Festival) (1985) # '' Shadow of China'' (1990) # '' Ai ni Tsuite, Tokyo'' (About Love, Tokyo) (1992) # '' Tabisuru Pao-jiang-hu'' (Travelling Medicine Peddlers) (1995; documentary) # '' Who's Camus Anyway?'' (2005)

Awards

References

External links

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JMDB entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanagimachi, Mitsuo 1945 births Japanese film directors Living people People from Ibaraki Prefecture Japanese documentary filmmakers Japanese screenwriters Writers from Ibaraki Prefecture