Toshio Matsumoto

Biography

Toshio Matsumoto (松本 俊夫, Matsumoto Toshio; March 25, 1932 – April 12, 2017) was a Japanese film director, a pioneer of avant-garde experimental films, multimedia, and video in his homeland and abroad. Born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan and a graduate from Tokyo University in 1955, his first short was Ginrin, which he made in 1955, however his most famous work is 1969's wildly experimental Funeral Parade of Roses (also known as Bara no soretsu). A retelling of Oedipus Rex, a trans person (portrayed by Pîta) tries to move up in the world of the Japanese hostess clubs. Funeral Parade of Roses heavily influenced Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971). Matsumoto published many books of photography and art and was a professor and dean of Arts at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. He was also the President of the Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences.

Directed

1. Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) — Director
2. Demons (1971) — Director
3. Dogra Magra (1988) — Director
4. Atman (1975) — Director
5. Phantom (1975) — Director
6. White Hole (1979) — Director
7. Mona Lisa (1973) — Director
8. Everything Visible Is Empty (1975) — Director
9. For My Crushed Right Eye (1968) — Director
10. Metastasis (1971) — Director
11. The Weavers of Nishijin (1961) — Director
12. Ki or Breathing (1980) — Director
13. The Song of Stone (1963) — Director
14. Andy Warhol: Re-Reproduction (1974) — Director
15. Mothers (1967) — Director
16. Engram (1987) — Director
17. Connection (1981) — Director
18. Relation (1982) — Director
19. Expansion (1973) — Director
20. Sway (1985) — Director
21. Shift (1982) — Director
22. The War of the 16 Year Olds (1976) — Director
23. Ecstasis (1969) — Director
24. Enigma: Nazo (1978) — Director
25. EE Control (1985) — Director
26. Silver Wheel (1955) — Director
27. Murder Catalogue (1975) — Director
28. Kimoto (1980) — Director
29. Magnetic Scramble (1968) — Director
30. Old/New (1990) — Director
31. I'm Nylon (1962) — Director
32. A Girl (1975) — Director
33. Fly (1974) — Director
34. Dissimulation (1992) — Director
35. Autonomy (1972) — Director
36. Wave (1984) — Director
37. Space Projection Ako (1970) — Director
38. Security Treaty (1959) — Director
39. Record of A Long White Line (1960) — Director
40. 300 Ton Trailer (1959) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Engram (1987)
2. Under the Skin (2002) — Himself
3. KIKAIDE MIRUKOTO = Eye Machine / To See by Chance –The Pioneers of Japanese Video Arts– (2013)
4. Filming the Unfilmable: An Interview with Toshio Matsumoto (2003) — self
5. Discovery of Image – The Era of Toshio Matsumoto (2017)