Kei Kumai (熊井 啓, Kumai Kei, 1 June 1930 – 23 May 2007) was a Japanese film director from Azumino, Nagano prefecture. After his studies in literature at Shinshu University, he began work as a director's assistant.[1]
Kei Kumai
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| Born | (1930-06-01)1 June 1930
Azumino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
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| Died | 23 May 2007(2007-05-23) (aged 76) |
| Occupation | Film director |
He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his first film, Nihon rettō, in 1965.[2] His 1972 film Shinobu Kawa was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.[3] His 1973 film Rise, Fair Sun was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival.[4]
Sandakan No. 8 received widespread acclaim for tackling the issue of a woman forced into prostitution in Borneo before the outbreak of World War II. Kinuyo Tanaka won the Best Actress Award at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance.[5] The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 48th Academy Awards.[6]
Kumai's follow-up film was 1976's Cape of North, starring French actress Claude Jade as a Swiss nun who falls in love with a Japanese engineer on a trip from Marseilles to Yokohama. His 1986 film The Sea and Poison won the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.[7] In 1992, his film Luminous Moss was entered into the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.[8]
Other works include Death of a Tea Master starring Toshirō MifuneasSen no Rikyū (Silver Lion at the 46th Venice International Film Festival), and the 2002 film The Sea Is Watching, based on Akira Kurosawa's posthumous script.