Teinosuke Kinugasa

Japanese film director Teinosuke Kinugasa was born in 1896 in Mie Prefecture and died in 1982 in Kyōto. He was among the pioneers of Japanese film. Kinugasa began his career as an actor specialising in female roles before giving his directorial debut in 1922. Among his best known works is the silent film “Kurutta Ippēji” (“A Page of Madness”, 1926) which, together with his film “Jūjiro” (“Crossways”, 1928), is one of the few still existing early works in Japanese cinema. Making use of expressive images and without inter-titles, “Kurutta Ippēji” depicts the inmates’ own perceptions in an asylum. His film “Jigokumon” (“Gate of Hell”) from 1953 was awarded the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1954, as well as an Oscar for best foreign film.