Kinuyo Tanaka, Female Director

“As there are now also women in Japanese parliament, it seems important to me for there to be at least one female director in Japan.“ This laconic remark is attributed to Kinuyo Tanaka (1909–1977), one of Japan’s most famous actresses who also directed 6 films during the second half of her acting career, which spanned over 200 films; at that point, she was only the country’s second ever female director. At a time when change was slowly becoming visible in relation to the position of the woman within Japanese society, Tanaka’s films often picked up on social themes and current debates and placed the widest possible range of female characters at their heart in bold, nuanced fashion. (Milena Gregor)

The retrospective is a collaboration with the Japanese Cultural Institute Cologne (The Japan Foundation).