Jano Williams went to Japan in 1974 intending to stay one year and didn’t come home for 14. While there she worked at the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation NHK, her work involved the making of radio programs about the individuals and structures that make up Japanese society. She subsequently moved to the television company NTV. She learned Japanese and became totally immersed in the Japanese way of life and contributed many articles to Japanese newspapers and magazines. A year after her return to England she went back to Japan with Kim Longinotto to make EAT THE KIMONO (1990) about the radical woman performer Hanayagi Genshu. This was followed by DREAM GIRLS (1993) about the all women Takarazuka Dance Theatre and then SHINJUKU BOYS (1995) about young transsexual men who had been born with women’s bodies. Subsequently she went back to film in Japan for another production company in the course of which she first met the Gaea girls. She is now living in Bristol and hopes to continue making films about the Japan that reflect her bond with that country.
Kim Longinotto studied camera and directing at England's National Film School. In 1986, Longinotto formed the production company Twentieth Century Vixen with Claire Hunt. Together they made Fireraiser, a look at the bombing of Dresden; Eat the Kimono, about the controversial Japanese feminist performer Hanayagi Genshu; Hidden Faces, the internationally acclaimed, collaborative documentary with/about Egyptian women; and The Good Wife of Tokyo in which they examine women, love and marriage in Japanese society.
2005 Sister in Law
2002 Day I Will Never Forget
2000 Gaea Girls
1998 Divorce Iranian Style
1996 Rock Wives(ㄒV)
1995 Shinjuku Boys
1994 Dream Girls
1992 Good Wife of Tokyo
1990 Hidden Faces
1989 Eat the Kimono
1982 Underage
1976 Pride of Place
1975 Theatre Girls
2005 Sister in Law
2002 Day I Will Never Forget
2000 Gaea Girls
1998 Divorce Iranian Style
1996 Rock Wives(ㄒV)
1995 Shinjuku Boys
1994 Dream Girls
1992 Good Wife of Tokyo
1990 Hidden Faces
1989 Eat the Kimono
1982 Underage
1976 Pride of Place
1975 Theatre Girls
