The International Film Festival Rotterdam honors Japanese filmmaker Sai Yoichi with a tribute program that comprises many of his works including his latest, brilliant ninja action movie Kamui.
This will be Sai Yoichi's first international focus program. Korean-Japanese filmmaker Sai Yoichi (1949, Nagano) started his career as an assistant director for Oshima Nagisa and Murakawa Toru. He was awarded as Best Newcomer at the Mainichi Film Competition for his directorial debut The mosquito on the tenth floor (1983). After completing several films for Kadokawa Pictures and several television projects, his multi-cultural comedy All under the moon (1993) brought him fame and multiple awards. His later films include prison movie Doing time (2002), box office hit Quill (2004), immigrant family drama BLood and bones featuring Beat Takeshi (2004) and Soo (2007). In his latest film Kamui, a ninja movie adapted from the legendary sixties manga by Shirato Sanpei, Sai brilliantly mixes action and fantasy, featuring young Japanese star actor Matsuyama Ken'ichi as the hero.
Sai Yoichi will be attending IFFR 2010 to introduce the screenings of his films. The focus section has been programmed by Tony Rayns in collaboration with Aihara Hiromi and is part of the Signals section.