Kinji Fukasaku

Director, screenwriter and a key figure in Japanese cinema in the 1970s, being one of the most influential directors of the time. His critical analysis of government and traditions emerged in his adolescence after a traumatic experience during World War II, when he was forced to work in a munitions factory and had to hide under the bodies of his comrades after a bombing. He recalls having identified the absurdity of war and the betrayal of the government, elements that would mark his artistic identity. After gaining experience as an assistant director and commissioned action films, Fukasaku broke with established conventions and explored innovative and experimental narrative forms. With iconic films such as Battle Royale or Battles Without Honor and Humanity, he shook up the state of things and demonstrated his predecessors' boldness and radicalism in popular and mainstream genres.