I did want to become a novelist, but the program at Waseda was pretty intense in terms of language requirements - two hours of English and four hours of Chinese. I thought, what do I need this for? So I… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
But then foreign critics right away made sweeping comparisons to haiku, noh theater, and directors like Ozu, as if the movie were somehow representative… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
If a movie is nominated for, say, an Academy award, that movie will instantly become popular in Japan. There's always been a bit of… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
In the neighborhood around Waseda, there were all these movie theaters, so every morning I left the house and watched movies instead of going… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
One of the more problematic aspects of the current state of cinema in Japan is that the movies playing in the theaters are by… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
In order to avoid sentimentality and to be able to write the screenplay with the kind of humor and irony necessary to keep the… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
I don't believe in making movies to cater to a foreign audience. You never know what the reaction is going to be anyhow. At… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
I did want to become a novelist, but the program at Waseda was pretty intense in terms of language requirements - two hours of… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
As far as documentaries go, I believe unreservedly that they serve an important function in our culture. I'd love to be able to make… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
The contemporary Japanese directors who are well-known in the West - say, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takeshi Kitano, Naomi Kawase - are mostly unknown to Japanese,… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
The biggest considerations I had were practical: how do you move such a large number of actors around a small space? So, for example,… — Hirokazu Koreeda Copy Share Image
