Shinzo Katayama

Director

February 7, 1981 (45 years)

Osaka, Japan

Biography

Born in 1981 in Osaka prefecture, Japan, Katayama Shinzo worked as an assistant director for Nobuhiro Yamashita before becoming an assistant director for Bong Joon Ho on two of his projects: Tokyo! (2008) and Mother (2009). His debut feature, Siblings of the Cape (2019), won the Best Picture – Feature Length at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival and was invited to numerous international film festivals including Göteborg Film Festival, Geneva International Film Festival and Taipei Film Fes…

Filmography

7.7

Gannibal

After causing a major incident, police officer Daigo Agawa takes his wife and daughter to live in the remote mountain village of Kuge. It seems the perfect place to recover from the ordeal, despite the mysterious disappearance of a previous officer posted there. One day, the body of an old woman is found on the mountain. The Goto family says she was attacked by a bear, but Daigo notices a human bite mark. It soon becomes clear that not all is as it seems in the village.

N/A

Human Vapor

After a person spontaneously explodes on live TV, the mysterious Human Vapor uses his gaseous form to evade capture and terrorize the nation.

7.7

Mother

A mother lives quietly with her son. One day, a girl is brutally killed, and the boy is charged with the murder. Now, it's his mother's mission to prove him innocent.

7.0

The Hovering Blade

Following the brutal rape and murder of his teenage daughter, a single father seeks revenge against the responsible youths. His pursuit for justice becomes a deadly cat-and-mouse game with both the perpetrators and the police.

6.9

Tokyo!

Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.

7.0

Majimuri Academy

Mysterious transfer student appears. Lily disobeys the student council's orders and goes her own way. Hina, Rose, and Sumire were inspired by her appearance. "With Lily, we might be able to really change the school," he says, forming the Hanagumi. However, the strongest men in history stand in front of Hanagumi. This is the story of a small world revolution that can be found everywhere. However, a revolution in a small world may one day lead to big changes in the world.

5.9

Lust in the Rain

The story centers on Yoshio, a poor and struggling manga artist who lives in Kitamachi. He is sent by Oyaji, the landlord of his apartment who is also engaged in other shady businesses, to help a novelist called Imori move in, and meets a recently-divorced woman named Fukuko. Yoshio is immediately bewitched by her beauty, even though she is already seeing someone else. In the meantime, Imori establishes an advertising agency, borrowing the name of a larger agency from the wealthier Minamicho, in order to sell his novel. Yoshio ends up helping with Imori's efforts, and somehow Imori and Fukuko come to live together with Yoshio.

7.1

Missing

Depressed and in debt, Santoshi tells his young daughter that he is going to find an infamous serial killer and collect a reward. However, when Santoshi disappears without a trace, she starts to fear the worst and begins searching for him.

6.8

Life of Mariko in Kabukicho

A small bar in Tokyo's red-light district run by an undercover detective with a tragic past links together a group of eccentrics, a search for aliens, FBI investigators, bizarre love affairs and assassins.

6.3

Hana's Miso Soup

Yasutake Shingo is a newspaper reporter whose only redeeming feature is his earnestness. He meets Matsunaga Chie, who attends a music college, and they start dating. Each day becomes all the more bright and enjoyable for Shingo because of the lively Chie. She loves to laugh, sing and eat. After one and a half years, Chie is employed as a music teacher. One day, Shingo is informed that Chie has breast cancer. After thinking about it, he decides to share a lifetime with her and proposes. His proposal gives her the courage to undergo surgery which she had been mulling over. One day, Chie starts to teach 5-year-old Hana the “important things in life” such as laundry, cleaning and cooking. She thinks that even if she is no longer around, her daughter and husband will be able to live.

6.0

Siblings of the Cape

A pair of siblings battling poverty and disabilities turn to prostitution, learning how to eat, fight, and love.

6.7

The Man Who Was There

A woman named Saki is discovered covered in blood and sat next to the body of an actor in the elevator hall of a condominium. She smokes a cigarette and seems stunned. The film takes audiences back two years in the past, a time when Saki, a staff member on a film, met the actor, Sho, on set and fell in love. He used her badly and had another woman on the side and so Saki reveals how strong her love is and the event occurs that night we first meet her. A short film directed by Shinzo Katayama, whose debut feature film Siblings of the Cape attracted and was screened in different countries. He also has a credit as an AD on Bong Joon-Ho’s mystery-thriller film Mother and Nobuhiro Yamatshita’s The Drudgery Train. The script is by Yukiko Sode who is responsible for Good Stripes and Aristocrats.

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