Hirokazu Koreeda

Hirokazu Kore-eda, born on 6 June 1962, is a celebrated Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He embarked on his career in television, transitioning eventually into film directing with his first documentary Lessons from a Calf released in 1991. Since then, he has directed more than a dozen feature films, receiving international acclaim for works such as Nobody Knows, Still Walking, and After the Storm. He is renowned for his contemplative style, often compared to luminaries like Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming-Liang, but admits personal influence from British director Ken Loach and Japanese director Mikio Naruse.

Kore-eda has received numerous awards throughout his career, notably the Jury Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival for Like Father, Like Son, and the coveted Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters. More recently, his 2022 film Broker won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Besides his illustrious film career, Kore-eda has also dabbled in television, directing a nine-episode series called The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, adapted from the manga Kiyo in Kyoto.