Mitsutoshi Tanaka

Mitsutoshi Tanaka (田中光敏, born 24 September 1958 in Urakawa, Hokkaido) is a Japanese film and commercial director. He is president and CEO of Osaka-based film production firm Creators' Union and widely known for award-winning feature films such as Godai - The Wunderkind (2020), 125 Years Memory (2015), Blossoms Bloom (2014) and Ask This of Rikyu (2013). He has received numerous awards, including the Kinema Junpo Best Ten Readers' Choice Award for Best Japanese Director for his period drama Godai - The Wunderkind and the Japan Academy Film Prize as Excellent Director for the Japanese-Turkish co-production 125 Years Memory.

Mitsutoshi Tanaka
田中光敏
Born (1958-09-24) 24 September 1958
Urakawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Alma materOsaka University of Arts
Occupation(s)Film director, commercial director
Years active1981-present
OrganizationCreators' Union
WorksGodai - The Wunderkind
125 Years Memory
Blossoms Bloom
Ask This of Rikyu
Castle under Fiery Skies
The Boat to Heaven
Kewaishi
AwardsKinema Junpo Best Ten
Japan Academy Film Prize
Websitewww.c-union.co.jp/m-tanaka

Career

After graduating from the Osaka University of Arts Department of Visual Concept Planning in 1981, Tanaka worked with Dentsu Eigasha (now Dentsu Tec) and TV Man Union.[1][2] He established Osaka-based film production firm Creators' Union in 1984 and has served as the company's president and CEO since that time.[1][3] He was appointed Dean of the Osaka University of Arts Department of Visual Concept Planning in 2022 where he has been teaching as a professor since 2014.[4][5] He has been a visiting fellow with the Wakayama University Center for Tourism Research since 2017.[4][6]

As a commercial director he has been working in various areas such as promotional videos, TV commercials and music videos and has received many awards, including the All Japan Radio & Television Commercial Confederation Award, the Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association Award and the Japan Industrial Film Competition Prize.[1][2] His works include tourism promotion videos for Awara and Mihama municipalities, TV commercials for Honda Motor and Panasonic and music videos for Yi-Fang Wu and The Pipettes. He has directed several TV dramas, most notably the 1993 Japanese-Chinese co-production The Land of the Three Kingdoms for TV Osaka.

His first theatrical feature Kewaishi was released in 2001. The period drama was an official selection at the Shanghai International Film Festival and won the Award for Best Screenplay at the Tokyo International Film Festival.[1][7] He became widely known for award-winning works such as Godai - The Wunderkind (2020), 125 Years Memory (2015), Blossoms Bloom (2014), Ask This of Rikyu (2013) and Castle under Fiery Skies (2009). He has received numerous awards, including the 94th Kinema Junpo Best Ten Readers' Choice Award for Best Japanese Director for his film Godai - The Wunderkind, the 39th Japan Academy Film Prize as Excellent Director for 125 Years Memory, the Best Director Award at the 1st Asia International Film Festival in Taipei for Blossoms Bloom and the Best Director Award at the 2014 Osaka Cinema Festival for Ask This of Rikyu.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]

Tanaka was appointed as Tourism Ambassador of his hometown Urakawa, Hokkaido in 2010, Honorary Director of the Kushimoto Turkish Museum in 2016 and Tourism Ambassador of Awara, Fukui in 2017.[4][15][16] In 2016 he received the Governor's Award of Wakayama Prefecture and the Mayor's Award of Kushimoto Municipality.[15][17]

Feature films and film awards

2001: Kewaishi (化粧師)

Period drama based on a manga by Shotaro Ishinomori

2003: The Boat to Heaven (精霊流し, Shoro Nagashi)

Adaptation of Masashi Sada's autobiographical novel of the same name

2009: Castle under Fiery Skies (火天の城, Katen no Shiro)

Period drama based on Kenichi Yamamoto's novel of the same name about Azuchi Castle

2013: Ask This of Rikyu (利休にたずねよ, Rikyu ni Tazuneyo)

Period drama based on Kenichi Yamamoto's award-winning novel of the same name

  • Best Director Award at the 2014 Osaka Cinema Festival[14]
  • Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 37th Montréal World Film Festival[20]
  • 37th Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Art Direction, Excellent Film, Excellent Leading Actor, Excellent Supporting Actress, Excellent Music, Excellent Cinematography, Excellent Editing, Excellent Sound Recording, Excellent Lighting[21]
  • 30th Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Award[22]

2014: Blossoms Bloom (サクラサク, Sakura Saku)

Family drama based on Masashi Sada's short story of the same name

  • Official selection at the 38th Montréal World Film Festival[1]
  • Awards for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Music at the 1st Asia International Film Festival in Taipei[1][13]

2015: 125 Years Memory (海難１８９０, Kainan 1890)

A call for world peace based on two historical events

  • Canadian premiere screening at the 2016 Toronto Japanese Film Festival[23][24]
  • 39th Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Art Direction, Best Sound Recording, Excellent Film, Excellent Director, Excellent Leading Actor, Excellent Screenplay, Excellent Music, Excellent Cinematography, Excellent Editing, Excellent Lighting[11][25]
  • VFX-JAPAN Award 2017 for Excellent Motion Picture[26][27]

2020: Godai - The Wunderkind (天外者, Tengaramon)

Biographical story of Tomoatsu Godai, the influential entrepreneur of the Meiji era (starring Haruma Miura as Godai)

References
  1. "田中光敏", researchmap. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  2. "会員名鑑 田中光敏", Directors Guild of Japan. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  3. "株式会社クリエイターズユニオン 会社情報", Creators' Union. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  4. "映画監督 田中光敏プロフィール", Creators' Union. Retrieved on 13 December 2022. (in Japanese)
  5. "映像学科", Osaka University of Arts. Retrieved on 13 December 2022. (in Japanese)
  6. "CTR Visiting Fellows", Wakayama University. Retrieved on 31 May 2021.
  7. "14th Tokyo International Film Festival", Tokyo International Film Festival. Retrieved on 31 May 2021.
  8. 磯部正和. "三浦春馬さん「天外者」キネ旬読者選出日本映画１位に 田中光敏監督「春馬くんの思い届いた」", CinemaToday, 4 February 2021. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  9. "２０２０年 第９４回 キネマ旬報ベスト・テン 第一位作品＆個人賞発表", Kinema Junpo, 4 February 2021. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  10. Wanibuchi, Tatsuko. "日本アカデミー賞監督賞受賞", Film Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka, 19 March 2016. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  11. "第３９回日本アカデミー賞優秀作品", Japan Academy Film Prize Association. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  12. Tanaka, Mitsutoshi. "第２回アジア国際映画祭ｉｎ台湾", Film Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka, 6 November 2017. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  13. "映画「サクラサク」台湾で一斉上映", Fukui Shimbun, 1 August 2019. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  14. "過去の受賞者", Osaka Cinema Festival. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  15. "田中光敏監督の貢献に感謝 トルコ記念館名誉館長委嘱", The Kumano Shimbun, 17 May 2016. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  16. "田中光敏さんとＳＥＲＩＫＡＮＡさんに越前あわら観光大使を委嘱しました", Awara City, 10 February 2017. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  17. "「海難１８９０」田中監督らに ２８年度知事表彰", Wakayama Shimpo, 1 June 2016. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  18. "作品のご紹介", Film Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  19. "第３３回日本アカデミー賞優秀作品", Japan Academy Film Prize Association. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  20. Awards of the Montréal World Film Festival - 2013 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2019-06-23), Montréal World Film Festival. Retrieved on 31 May 2021.
  21. "第３７回日本アカデミー賞優秀作品", Japan Academy Film Prize Association. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  22. "映画賞 受賞者一覧", Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Foundation. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  23. Akalın, Can. "A Tale of Two Countries Bound by Tragedy and Heroism", Nikkei Voice, 13 June 2016. Retrieved on 31 May 2021.
  24. Akalın, Can (2022). "Ertuğrul Dünyada Barışa" [Ertuğrul Saves the World]. In Esen, Esin (ed.). Kotodama İstanbul Kokorozashi 4 (in Turkish). Istanbul: Efe Akademi Yayınları. p. 148. ISBN 978-625-8121-71-1.
  25. "第３９回日本アカデミー賞「海難１８９０」が１０部門で優秀賞受賞", NPO Ertuğrul Saves the World, 21 January 2016. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  26. "ＶＦＸ－ＪＡＰＡＮアワード２０１７優秀賞決定", VFX-Japan, 26 December 2016. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  27. "ＣＧとＶＦＸの祭典「京楽ピクチャーズ．ＰＲＥＳＥＮＴＳ　ＶＦＸ－ＪＡＰＡＮアワード２０１７」表彰式レポート", CGWorld, 22 March 2017. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  28. Tanaka, Mitsutoshi. "「天外者」そして上海へ", Film Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka, 18 May 2021. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
  29. "日刊スポーツ映画大賞　新設の「ファンが選ぶ最高作品賞」は「天外者」", Nikkan Sports, 27 December 2021. Retrieved on 1 August 2023. (in Japanese)
  30. "「三浦春馬さんの代わりに感謝」 東京新聞映画賞に「天外者」 三浦翔平さんがあいさつ", Tokyo Shimbun, 16 March 2021. Retrieved on 31 May 2021. (in Japanese)
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