Mitsuo Yanagimachi

is a Japanese screenwriter and film director.

Career Born in Namegata District, Ibaraki, Yanagimachi attended the Faculty of Law at Waseda University but began studying filmmaking. Working as a freelance assistant director after graduating, he started his own production company in 1974 and produced the documentary film God Speed You! Black Emperor (1976) about bōsōzoku. He made his fiction film debut in 1979 with Jūkyūsai no Chizu. That and the later Himatsuri were based on novels by Kenji Nakagami. His 1982 work Saraba Itoshiki Daichi showed in the Competition at the Berlin Film Festival. His films have often focused on youth (Who's Camus Anyway?), on ethnic minorities in Japan (Ai ni Tsuite, Tokyo), as well as on Asia (Shadow of China and the documentary Tabisuru Pao-jiang-hu).

Yanagimachi was awarded the Geijutsu Senshō Prize in 1985 by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Filmography as director God Speed You! Black Emperor (1976; documentary) Jūkyūsai no Chizu (A 19-Year-Old's Map) (1979) Saraba Itoshiki Daichi (Farewell to the Land) (1982) Himatsuri (Fire Festival) (1985) Shadow of China (1989) Ai ni Tsuite, Tokyo (About Love, Tokyo) (1992) Tabisuru Pao-jiang-hu (Travelling Medicine Peddlers) (1995; documentary) Who's Camus Anyway? (2005)

Awards Year Award Film Festival 1980 Best New Director Jūkyūsai no Chizu Yokohama Film Festival 1985 Ernest Artaria Award Himatsuri Locarno International Film Festival 1986 Rotterdam Award Himatsuri Rotterdam International Film Festival 1992 Interfilm Award - Honorable Mention Ai ni tsuite, Tokyo Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival 1992 Special Jury Prize Ai ni tsuite, Tokyo Tokyo International Film Festival 2005 Japanese Eyes: Best Film Kamyu nante shiranai Tokyo International Film Festival