We’ve covered some of the top Japanese LGBTQ+ films that you can watch, both for gay men and lesbians. However, who are the people behind these movies? What are their stories? For today, we’ll give you a few prideful profiles of some of Japan’s most celebrated LGBTQ+ filmmakers. Lights, camera, action!
Ryōsuke Hashiguchi
Born in Nagasaki, in 1962, Hashiguchi became interested in filmmaking when he attended Osaka University. He began to film and produce his own independent films, and A Secret Evening, a film about a group of four high school children, one of whom is in love with his best friend, and all of them having to confront their feelings, was critically acclaimed.
He has since gone on to direct a number of award-winning films, such as Hush!, Like Grains of Sand, and Three Stories of Love. He has said before that by recognizing and processing pain for what it is, it can bring about a feeling of happiness, and this is reflected in his work.
Riho Kudo
Born in Fukuoka, Kudo began making his own films before he even left school, and attended Kyoto University of the Arts, where he was mentored in film studies by Shinji Aoyama, a Cannes award winning director.
After graduating, his first commercial film was 2021’s Let Me Hear It Barefoot, a story about two young men who, penniless, try to record the sounds of a round-the-world-trip for one of their hospitalized mothers. The film won the New Director Grand Prix and Best New Actor Award at the 36th Takasaki Film Festival, as well as the Best Film Award at an Indonesian film festival.
Sachi Hamano
Born Sachiko in 1948 in Tokushima prefecture, Hamano dreamed of being a film director as a high schooler, but had her eye on something different to the typical Hollywood blockbusters. After briefly studying photography, she became the assistant director for Pink Eiga (softcore pornography) in 1968.
She has since become the most prominent and most celebrated woman softcore porn director, known not only for her eye towards giving the films a feminine perspective, but also filmed softcore gay films, such as Blazing Men. She has continued to write and film, and has been praised for her work on Lily Festival, which explores the sexuality of women senior citizens.
Satoko Nagamura
As well as being a filmmaker, Nagamura and her partner Mamiko Moda not only were two of the first people to become officially paired under the Partnership Oath System, but they are also raising a child together. It was this experience that began Nagamura’s film project, #TWOMOMS.
The film explores the joys and difficulties of women in same-gender relationships who are (or, in one example, trying to become) parents in Japan. Praised for its honest depiction of the difficulties navigating legal avenues for LGBTQ+ people to become parents, she has become known as a subtle and effective storyteller.
Graham Kolbeins
Making this list as an “honorary” Japanese filmmaker, Kolbeins was born in Canada, and became the recipient of the Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship in 2016 from the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, which he used to create the documentary movie Queer Japan.
The film profiles a number of LGBTQ+ people working, living, and loving in Japan. These include artist Akira the Hustler, politician Aya Kamikawa, manga artist Gengoroh Tagame, and drag queen Vivienne Sato. He has also worked on two books, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, and Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It, in collaboration with Anne Ishii and Chip Kidd.
There are plenty more Japanese LGBTQ+ filmmakers we could dive into, but for today, we’ll leave it with these fabulous five. Now, the show is over. There are no post-credits for this article. Get outta here… until the sequel!
