Satsuo Yamamoto

was a Japanese film director. Career Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima City. After leaving Waseda University, where he had become affiliated with left-wing groups, he joined the Shochiku film studios in 1933, where he worked as an assistant director to Mikio Naruse. He followed Naruse when the latter moved to P.C.L. film studios (later Toho) and debuted as a director in 1937 with Ojōsan. before being drafted and sent to China. co-directed with Fumio Kamei. The commercially successful Street of Violence (1950) was produced by a committee named after the film's original title Bōryoku no machi, while the left-wing production company Shinsei Eiga-sha ("New star films"), formed by former Toho unionists, produced the anti-war film Vacuum Zone (1953), which film historian Donald Richie called "the strongest anti-military film ever made in Japan" in 1959.

In the 1960s, Yamamoto again worked for major companies like Daiei and Nikkatsu, directing films like Band of Assassins (1962), The Ivory Tower (1966) and Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967). He died in Tokyo on 11 August 1983, at the age of 73.

Ojosan PCL 1937 War and Peace Toho 22 July 1947 Konna Onnani Daregashita Toyoko Film (Distributed by Daiei Film) 4 July 1949 Street of ViolenceBoryoku no Machi Bōryoku no machi production committee (Distributed by Daiei Film) 26 February 1950 Hakone Fūunroku Shinsei Film, Zenshin Za 14 March 1952 Vacuum ZoneShinkūchitai Hokuto Film 15 December 1952 Hi no Hate Yagi Pro/Sehai (Distributed by Shochiku Film) 3 February 1954 Taiyō no nai Machi Shinsei Film 24 June 1954 Taifu Sodoki Yamamoto Production 19 December 1956 Ballad of the CartNiguruma no Uta Zenkoku Noson Eiga Kyokai 11 February 1959 Ningen no Kabe Yamamoto Production (Distributed by Shintoho) 27 January 1961 Matsukawa Jiken Matsukawa Jikengeki Eiga Seisakuiinkai 27 January 1961 Shinobi no Mono Daiei Film 1 December 1962 Zoku Shinobi no Mono Daiei Film 10 August 1963 Nippon Dorobō Monogatari Daiei Film 1 May 1965 Ivory Tower Daiei Film 15 October 1966 The Bride From Hades Daiei Film 15 June 1968 Men and WarSenso to Ningen Nikkatsu 14 August 1970 12 June 1971 11 August 1973 Karei-naru Ichizoku Geiensha (Distributed by Toho) 26 January 1974 Kinkanshoku Daiei (Distributed by Toho) 6 September 1975 Barren Land Geiensha (Distributed by Toho) 14 August 1976 Kōtei no Inai Hachigatsu Shochiku 23 September 1978 Nomugi PassAh Nomugi Toge Shin Nihon Eiga (Distributed by Toho) 30 June 1979 Nomugi Pass ShinryokuhenAh Nomugi Toge Shinrokuhen Toho 6 February 1982

Awards Kinema Junpo Awards Yamamoto received the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Director for Ivory Tower, which was also awarded Best Film.

Blue Ribbon Awards Yamamoto won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Director for Shōnin no isu and Nippon dorobō monogatari (both 1965). Ivory Tower was awarded Best Film the following year.

Mainichi Fim Awards Yamamoto was awarded Best Director at the Mainichi Film Awards for Ballad of the Cart and Ningen no kane (both 1959), Ivory Tower, Men and War and Barren Land. Ivory Tower, Barren Land and Nomugi Pass were winners in the Best Film category.

Festival prizes Ivory Tower was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where it was awarded the Silver Prize.

Books Yamamoto Satsuo: My Life as a Filmmaker (私の映画人生, Watakushi no eiga jinsei), published in English in 2017 by University of Michigan Press, translated by Chia-ning Chang. - It is an autobiography that was first published after Yamamoto died.