Naomi Kawase

Biography

Naomi Kawase (河瀨直美 Kawase Naomi, born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director. She graduated from Visual Arts Osaka in 1989. Many of her works have been documentaries, including Embracing, about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and Katatsumori, about the grandmother who raised her. Aside from being a filmmaker, she is the founder and Executive Director for the Nara International Film Festival.

Directed

1. Sweet Bean (2015) — Director
2. Radiance (2017) — Director
3. Still the Water (2014) — Director
4. True Mothers (2020) — Director
5. The Mourning Forest (2007) — Director
6. Shara (2003) — Director
7. Suzaku (1997) — Director
8. Vision (2018) — Director
9. Homemade (2020) — Director
10. Hanezu (2012) — Director
11. Nanayo (2008) — Director
12. Katatsumori (1994) — Director
13. Embracing (1992) — Director
14. 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero (2011) — Director
15. Birth/Mother (2006) — Director
16. Cinematic Correspondences: Isaki Lacuesta - Naomi Kawase (2009) — Director
17. Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth (2001) — Director
18. Genpin (2010) — Director
19. Trace (2012) — Director
20. Kaleidoscope (1999) — Director
21. See Heaven (1995) — Director
22. Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom (2002) — Director
23. The Weald (1998) — Director
24. Yakushima's Illusion (2025) — Director
25. 3.11 A Sense of Home Films (2011) — Director
26. echo (2023) — Director
27. Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side B (2022) — Director
28. Koma (2009) — Director
29. Firefly (2001) — Director
30. Sun on the Horizon (1996) — Director
31. Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side A (2022) — Director
32. Haiku (2009) — Director
33. Seed (2016) — Director
34. Memory of the Wind (1995) — Director
35. This World (A Correspondence Between Naomi Kawase and Hirokazu Koreeda) (1996) — Director
36. Lies (2016) — Director
37. Hikaru Utada: Sakura Nagashi (2012) — Director
38. Amami (2016) — Director
39. To The Future (2021) — Director
40. Cinema Fighters (2018) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Love & Pop (1998) — Woman speaking to Hiromi (voice)
2. Shara (2003) — Reiko
3. The Tale of Iya (2013) — Dr. Amamiya
4. Katatsumori (1994) — Self
5. It Stopped Raining (2020) — Koyomi's Mother
6. Embracing (1992) — Self
7. Birth/Mother (2006) — Self
8. Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth (2001) — Self
9. Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom (2002) — Self
10. Trace (2012) — Self
11. See Heaven (1995) — Self
12. Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women (2014) — Self
13. Kaleidoscope (1999) — Self
14. Memory of the Wind (1995) — Herself
15. Sun on the Horizon (1996) — Self
16. Amami (2016) — Self
17. Emergency Exit (2025)
18. Rien ne s'efface (2008) — elle-même
19. Destroy Vicious (2011)
20. Shining Besides Funny Moon (2013)
21. The Wolf, the Fox, and the Leopard (2026)
22. Echoes of Motherhood (2025)
23. Women Make Films (2004) — Self
24. What Kento Nakajima Wants to Know About Movies Now (2021)
25. Welcome Back For An Extracurricular Lesson, Sempai (1998) — Self