Akira Iwasaki (岩崎昶, Iwasaki Akira) (18 November 1903 – 16 September 1981) was a prominent left-wing Japanese film critic, historian, and producer. Born in Tokyo, he became interested in film from his student days at Tokyo University. Early on, he helped introduce German experimental film in Japan, and was instrumental in getting Teinosuke Kinugasa's masterpiece A Page of Madness screened in Tokyo.[1] Afterward, he became involved in Marxist politics and established a career promoting progressive cinema and criticism. He wrote or edited over thirty books of film criticism, history, theory and biography during his career.[2] He was also involved in film production, first serving from the late 1920s as a central member of the Proletarian Film League of Japan (Prokino), where he acted as not only the theoretical brain of the movement alongside Genjū Sasa, but also as a filmmaker.[3] When Prokino was effectively eliminated by police oppression under the Peace Preservation Law, Iwasaki continued his critical activities, becoming involved in the Yuibutsuron Kenkyūkai with such thinkers as Jun Tosaka, but was eventually arrested in 1940, in part for his opposition to the Film Law, which authorized increased government control of the film industry.[4] He was the only film critic arrested by the ideological police during the war.[5] After his release, he worked for a time at the Tokyo office of the Manchukuo Film Association thanks to the help of Kan'ichi Negishi.
After Japan's defeat in World War II, Iwasaki was active in criticizing those who participated in the war effort. He joined Nihon Eigasha (Nichiei), primarily a documentary film company, and helped produce two important, but ill-fated documentaries: The Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was confiscated by Occupation authorities,[6][7] and The Japanese Tragedy, directed by Fumio Kamei, which was banned for its critical depiction of Emperor Hirohito.[8] While continuing to work as a film critic from the 1950s on, including pursuing a vigorous debate on the nature of cinematic realism with Taihei Imamura, Iwasaki helped produce some of the independent films made by Tadashi Imai and Satsuo Yamamoto after many left-wingers were expelled from the major studios in the Red Purge.
In 1974, he was a member of the jury at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival.[9]
^Gerow, pp. 100–101.
^Iwasaki Akira chosho, Japanese Wikipedia
^Nornes, Japanese Documentary Film, pp. 19–47.
^Nornes, Japanese Documentary Film, pp. 125–130.
^Iwamoto, Kenji. "Film Criticism and The Study of Cinema In Japan: A Historical Survey (PDF) Archived 2011-08-13 at the Wayback Machine". Iconics vol. 1 (1987), p. 134. Accessed 28 November 2009.
^Nornes, Abé Mark. "Production Materials from The Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Archived 2010-05-03 at the Wayback Machine". Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. Accessed 28 November 2009.
^Mitchell, Greg. "The Great Atomic Film Coverup." Huffington Post. 10 November 2009. Accessed 28 November 2009
^Hirano, pp. 104–145.
^"Berlinale 1974: Juries". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 6 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
AkiraIwasaki (岩崎昶, IwasakiAkira) (18 November 1903 – 16 September 1981) was a prominent left-wing Japanese film critic, historian, and producer. Born...
immunobiologist AkiraIwasaki (岩崎 昶, 1903–1981), Japanese film critic and producer Carl Iwasaki (born 1961), American college baseball coach Chihiro Iwasaki (岩崎 知弘...
Cherry is Minami Iwasaki family's dog. Her name originates from Kagami Yoshimizu's family dog's name. Akira Kogami (小神 あきら, Kogami Akira) Voiced by: Ai...
Akiko Iwasaki (岩崎明子, Iwasaki Akiko, born September 13, 1970) is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology...
Takuya Iwasaki (岩崎 卓也, Iwasaki Takuya, July 9, 1929 – February 4, 2018) was a Japanese archaeologist. He was an expert in the Neolithic and early period...
and Matsuo Kishi was dominant, but opposed by leftist critics such as AkiraIwasaki and Genjū Sasa who sought an ideological critique of films. The 1930s...
political commitment" (Donald Richie), Already in the 1930s, critic AkiraIwasaki diminished the films as "purely... moneymaking commodities". Many of...
also made fiction films and animated films. Prominent members included AkiraIwasaki and Genjū Sasa, although in its list of supporters one finds such figures...
unionists, including director Satsuo Yamamoto, and Fumio Kamei and AkiraIwasaki, who were unionists but not employed by Toho. In addition, the union...
directed a documentary titled The Japanese Tragedy. The film, produced by AkiraIwasaki and largely assembled from pre-war and wartime newsreels and still photographs...
Akira Sasanuma (笹沼 尭羅, Sasanuma Akira, born March 25, 1973) is a Japanese voice actor who is a member of Arts Vision. He voiced Austria in the Hetalia:...
Akira Nagoya (名古屋章, Nagoya Akira, 8 December 1930 – 24 June 2003) was a Japanese actor. Nagoya was an actor who specialized in playing comical roles. He...
criticism and a committee of the managers and film critics such as AkiraIwasaki helped program the films shown there. It was also famous in the silent...
fatally wounding Kato. In her book, Geisha, A Life, Kyoto geisha Mineko Iwasaki claimed to have had a long time affair with Katsu, whom she calls by his...
Jury President Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, French actor and filmmaker AkiraIwasaki, Japanese producer and film critic Roger Manvell, British author and...
Yukawa, physicist September 14: Yasuji Kiyose, composer September 16: AkiraIwasaki, film critic, historian, and producer December 28: Seishi Yokomizo,...
Ducaux-Rupp, producer (France) Kurt Heinz, composer (West Germany) AkiraIwasaki, historian and film critic (Japan) Arthur Knight, historian and film...
Kouki Iwasaki (岩崎孝樹, Iwasaki Kouki) is a Japanese professional wrestler best known for his time in the Japanese promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling where he is...
Portrayed by: Yuya Yagira Member of the Maguro clan. Kuroshio Voiced by: Ryota Iwasaki Portrayed by: Kai Inowaki A lowly member of the Maguro clan. Katsuya Takahashi...
Global Information