Kaneto Shindō
Japanese film director, screenwriter, and film producer, and author Kaneto Shindō (新藤 兼人) was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1912 and continued to make films throughout his life, until his death at the age of 100. Over his lifetime, he directed close to 50 films and wrote the scripts for 200 films. His best known films as a director include Children of Hiroshima, The Naked Island, Onibaba, Kuroneko and A Last Note. He also wrote scripts for some of Japan’s most well-known auteurs including Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Fumio Kamei, and Tadashi Imai.
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books
Life is Work
Forthcoming in Spring 2026!
Until his death in 2012 at age 100, legendary filmmaker Kaneto Shindō was a living link to more than 70 years of Japanese cinema history. Screenwriter of more than 200 films and director of more than 40, Shindō earned international praise for his masterpieces Children of Hiroshima and The Naked Island, and for the fantastical proto-horror film, Onibaba. In this volume, Shindō narrates his career, from his beginnings as an art director and fledgling screenwriter in the 1930s and 1940s, to his collaborations with such luminaries as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa and Kinji Fukasaku, to his breakout into independent filmmaking in the 1950s and beyond. This first-ever English language book on Shindō’s work is a stunning introduction to one of film’s great overlooked masters. It includes the full screenplay of The Naked Island and a preface by Benicio del Toro.
praise
“For anyone interested in great cinema and what it takes to make it, here, for the first time in English, is Master Kaneto Shindō in his own words.” — Benicio Del Toro