Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu, winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters (2018), has been named the recipient of the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award at the 24th Busan International Film Festival. The Asian Filmmaker of the Year is presented annually to a notable film professional or organization that has shown outstanding contributions to developing the Asian film industry and culture.
Asian Filmmaker of the Year will be awarded to the director Kore-eda Hirokazu at the premier of his latest film The Truth, official selection for the Gala Presentation section on Saturday, October 5, 2019.
Kore-eda Hirokazu has been loved and highly praised by the media, critics and viewers for his keen insight into the complexity of modern family relationships in his films: Nobody Knows (2004), Like Father, Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), and Shoplifters (2018).
Kore-eda is known for his strong affection for the Busan International Film Festival as proven by the director’s frequent visits to festival every year a new film of his is released. The director’s strong bond with the Busan International Film Festival continued with a special talk held in 2016 with world-renowned and contemporary Asian directors Hou Hsiao-hsien and Lee Chang-dong. This talk offered one of the most extensive discussions in hopes of a mutual development for Asian cinema, the region where solidarity among filmmakers is considered somewhat weak, compared to those in the Western film industry. In the following year, Kore-eda Hirokazu joined the Asian Film Academy (AFA) as a dean of the program, where he took the lead in teaching young Asian filmmakers.
Kore-eda Hirokazu was born in Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from Waseda University where he studied literature, Kore-eda intended a career as an author before going into documentary television and filmmaking. His filmography as director includes his directorial debut Maborosi (1995), Afterlife (1998), Distance (2001), Nobody Knows (2004), Still Walking (2008), Like Father, Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), After the Storm (2016), and Shoplifters (2018). Kore-eda’s film Shoplifters, a stunning masterpiece drama about family bonds, won the Palme d’Or – the highest prize – at the 71st Cannes Film Festival in 2018. Kore-eda’s new film The Truth (2019), his first feature shot outside Japan with Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke, has been selected to open the Official Competition of the 76th Venice Film Festival.