Zakka Films

山田哲夫

Born in Minato-ku, Tokyo, on February 20, 1948. Since 1971, he has worked as a planner, writer, director, and producer for feature documentaries and fiction films and for television.

<Awards>

2005

Nippon Cinema Award at 5th Nippon Connection (Frankfurt, Germany) Futari biyori: Turn Over—An Angel Is Coming on a Bicycle, writer/producer

Editing Award at 60th Mainichi Film Competition, Futari biyori: Turn Over—An Angel Is Coming on a Bicycle, writer/producer

Top 5 of Japanese Cinema Pen Club, Futari biyori: Turn Over—An Angel Is Coming on a Bicycle, writer/producer

2003

Encouragement Award at 41st Japan Industrial Film Competition, Sightseeing category, Man-Toro (Ten-thousand Lantern Festival) in Yoshiwara, part of Kyoto Furusato cultural revival project

2001

8th Sakata Award, NHK BS1 Hello Nippon, planner

2001

 Tools of a Carpenter – Their Technique and Spirit, selected as one of the “Top 100 Cultural/Documentary Short Films About Japan in the 20th Century.”

1986

Minister of International Trade and Industry Award at the 24th Japan Industrial Video Competition, Invitation for Fluorine Chemistry, video, 28min, planner/writer

1984

Encouragement Award at the 22nd Japan Industrial Film Competition,  Tools of a Carpenter – Their Technique and Spirit, 35mm, 22min, writer/director

Total running time: Approx. 53. / color

Nishinari in Osaka is home to one of Japan's largest concentrations of day laborers, with much of the population being composed of homeless persons, buraku (a discriminated community of descendants of outcast groups), former yakuza, and Korean-Japanese. This documentary presents the people of Nishinari, not from on high, but rather from their own level.