Kinuyo Tanaka (1909–1977) entered the Japanese film industry in her teens and went on to have a career spanning over 250 films, from the silent era to TohoScope epics. One of the most celebrated and popular actors of her time, she worked with consummate masters such as Yasujiro Ozu (10 films), Kenji Mizoguchi (15 films, including Ugetsu), and Mikio Naruse (whose 1952 film Mother introduced her to an international audience), among many more.

In 1953, in her early 40s, Tanaka boldly turned to directing her own features in an industry deprived of female filmmakers. She fulfilled her ambition with the help of the young studio Shintoho and her faithful friends Ozu and Naruse, as well as the gay activist filmmaker Keisuke Kinoshita, who penned the screenplay for her directorial debut, Love Letter, which went on to receive critical acclaim at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.

Between 1953 and 1962, Tanaka directed half a dozen films with a determined sense of freedom and touches of provocation, placing women at the forefront of her movies as mistresses, prostitutes, poets, heroines, and victims of social injustice. The Academy Museum is honored to pay tribute to Tanaka’s monumental place in film history with a retrospective comprising these six rare films, newly restored by some of the studios with which she worked: Nikkatsu, Toho, Shochiku, and Kadokawa.  

Programmed and notes by Bernardo Rondeau

Presented in partnership with Janus Films. This retrospective was conceived by Lili Hinstin.

Forever a Woman: Six Films by Kinuyo Tanaka

Past Screenings in Series