Kijû Yoshida

Kijû Yoshida was born in 1933 and burst upon the film scene half a century ago with a wild debut, Good for Nothing (1960). He directed 21 films between 1960 and 2004. He is married to actress Mariko Okada with whom he founded his own independent production company Gendai Eigasha.
Starting with A Story Written in Water (1965), Okada starred in the six so-called “anti-melodramas” under the direction of Yoshida.
From 1968 onwards, Yoshida became completely independent as his films went from being distributed in the Nikkatsu and Shôchiku theatres to being showcased only in the independent Art Theater Guild (ATG) circuit.
Especially interesting for his film fans are his documentaries and book about the senior Shôchiku director Yasujiro Ozu, published in English as Ozu’s Anti-Cinema (University of Michigan Press, 2003).