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Naomi Kawase

Director

Naomi Kawase

Born May 30, 1969 in Nara, Japan54 films

Naomi Kawase (河瀨直美 Kawase Naomi, born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director. She graduated from Visual Arts Osaka in 1989. Many of her works have been documentaries, including Embracing, about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and Katatsumori, about the grandmother who raised her. Aside from being a filmmaker, she is the founder and Executive Director for the Nara International Film Festival.

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The best way into Naomi Kawase's work
Sweet Bean posterFirst watchSweet Bean20157.5The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret.View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
True Mothers poster7.4True Mothers2020Still the Water poster6.7Still the Water2014Radiance poster6.5Radiance2017The Mourning Forest poster6.8The Mourning Forest2007

Filmography

54 films as director
  1. TBAUntitled Naomi Kawase FilmDirector
  2. 2025Yakushima's IllusionDirector
  3. 2023echoDirector
  4. 2022Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side BDirector
  5. 2022Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side ADirector
  6. 2021To The FutureDirector
  7. 2020True MothersDirector
  8. 2018The MoonDirector
  9. 2018VisionDirector
  10. 2018Cinema FightersDirector
  11. 2018Parallel WorldDirector
  12. 2017Where Does the Sand Go?Director
  13. 2017RadianceDirector
  14. 2016AmamiDirector
  15. 2016LiesDirector
  16. 2016SeedDirector
  17. 2015Sweet BeanDirector
  18. 2014Still the WaterDirector
  19. 2012Hikaru Utada: Sakura NagashiDirector
  20. 2012TraceDirector
  21. 2012HanezuDirector
  22. 201160 Seconds of Solitude in Year ZeroDirector
  23. 20113.11 A Sense of Home FilmsDirector
  24. 2010GenpinDirector
  25. 2009KomaDirector
  26. 2009HaikuDirector
  27. 2009Cinematic Correspondences: Isaki Lacuesta - Naomi KawaseDirector
  28. 2008NanayoDirector
  29. 2007The Mourning ForestDirector
  30. 2006Birth/MotherDirector
  31. 2003SharaDirector
  32. 2002Letter from a Yellow Cherry BlossomDirector
  33. 2001Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, EarthDirector
  34. 2001FireflyDirector
  35. 1999KaleidoscopeDirector
  36. 1998The WealdDirector
  37. 1997SuzakuDirector
  38. 1996Sun on the HorizonDirector
  39. 1996This World (A Correspondence Between Naomi Kawase and Hirokazu Koreeda)Director
  40. 1995Memory of the WindDirector
  41. 1995Kaze no kioku: Shibuya ni te 1995.12.26Director
  42. 1995See HeavenDirector
  43. 1994KatatsumoriDirector
  44. 1993White MoonDirector
  45. 1992EmbracingDirector
  46. 1991Like HappinessDirector
  47. 1990The Girls' Daily BreadDirector
  48. 1989My Sole FamilyDirector
  49. 1989A Small LargenessDirector
  50. 1989Presently,Director
  51. 1988The Concretization of These Things Flying Around MeDirector
  52. 1988Papa's Ice CreamDirector
  53. 1988My J-W-FDirector
  54. 1988I Focus on That Which Interests MeDirector