Women Make Waves International Film Festival

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    Forever a Woman

    TANAKA Kinuyo 1955 Japan b/w 110min Japanese DCP
    Based on the biography The Eternal Breasts by tanka poet NAKAJO Fumiko, TANAKA’s third film is usually considered her truly personal work and her directorial masterpiece. This drama about breast cancer centers on a divorced mother who moves back to her mother’s house. There she regularly attends a poetry circle and falls in love once more. With its frank depiction of sickness, desire, and sexuality, the film evinces an audacity that surprises to this day. The screenplay was penned by TANAKA Sumie, further consolidating the “films for women, by women” outlook that TANAKA Kinuyo strived to advance.

    Director

    TANAKA Kinuyo

    The formidable acting career of TANAKA Kinuyo has long overshadowed her pioneering status as a filmmaker. Between 1953 and 1962, she directed six feature films, tackling unexplored topics such as breast cancer and women's sexuality. As an actress and a filmmaker, TANAKA's works embody the cultural changes of Japanese society and examine the intersections between women’s authorship and gender discourses in modern Japan.

    TANAKA Kinuyo

    1953 Love Letter 
    1955 The Moon Has Risen 
    1955 Forever a Woman 
    1960 The Wandering Princess 
    1961 Girl of the Night
    1962 Love Under the Crucifix 

    Director: TANAKA Kinuyo
    Screenwriter: SAITO Ryosuke, OZU Yasujiro
    Chief Producer: HAYASHIMOTO Hiroyoshi
    Executive Producer: KOI Eisei
    Cinematographer: MINE Shigeyoshi
    Editor: KONDO Mitsuo
    Lighting: FUJIBAYASHI Ko
    Production Designer: KIMURA Takeo
    Sound Recording: KAMIYA Masakazu
    Music: SAITO Takanobu
    Assistant Director: SAITO Buichi
    Planning: Directors Guild of Japan

    FURUKAWA Mami
    NIKKATSU Corporation
    m.furukawa@nikkatsu.co.jp

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