A biography for Hirokazu Kore-edahasn’t been written yet.
“When making documentaries, the most important thing I learned was to listen, observe gestures and facial expressions.”
“I watch 'Electronic Boy' faithfully every week - not because I like the show but because I'm interested in where the smartest T.V. producers and directors are going, what direction they are headed in.”
“'Like Father, Like Son' gave me the opportunity to show when it is not good with a father.”
“I've been a fan of Yoshida Akimi's manga for a long time; she's one of a few women's manga writers that I always read.”
“We learn many things from children, always.”
“If my films did better at the box office in Japan, it would be easier to get them made.”
“Sometimes when you watch children, you feel that they show emotions that you, as an adult, can relate to.”
“When I choose child actors, I chose them for their personalities. And then I work with their own vocabulary, so I'm not imposing text or dialogue on them: I'm just receiving.”
“Directing while overcoming differences of language and culture is a stimulating challenge.”
“A film is not a vehicle to accuse, or to relay a specific message. If we reduce a film to this, we lose all hope for cinema to ignite a richer conversation.”
“I am very happy that Japanese film can cross borders.”
“I'm so entranced by what unfolds in front of the camera. It seems wonderfully out of my control.”
“I have never made a film to praise or to criticize something. That kind of filmmaking is nothing but propaganda.”
“All my mother ever wanted to talk about was what she hated about my father and the times he cheated on her when he was younger. It really irritated me, and I told them they had to sort things out between themselves. Looking back on that, I see that it was really cold of me as a son.”
“I grew up without a father.”
“It is righteous to receive state subsidies to make films that criticise the state - I want Japanese people to accept such European values.”
“Japanese feel an intimacy with the dead, at least for people up to my generation.”
“My father did not have a lot of security in his life. He did odd jobs. He had a real struggle to make money. He lost a lot of time in his 20s, after the war, because he was sent to a forced-labour camp in Siberia.”
“When I watch an actress say a line, I watch how they deliver the lines with gestures.”
“I believe that any auteur categorised in terms of an -ist or an -ism wouldn't be able to capture the complex essence of human nature.”