Shindo Kaneto

Born Apr. 22, 1912, in Hiroshima. Japanese film director.

Shindo began his career in films in 1934, first as a set designer and later as a screenwriter. In 1951 he made his debut as a director. Shindo made antiwar films, such as Children of Hiroshima (1952) and Lucky Dragon No. 5 (1959; Soviet title, The Tragedy of the Lucky Dragon). Shindo’s masterpiece. Naked Island (1960; First Prize, Second International Film Festival in Moscow, 1961), deals with a poor peasant family and its dramatic struggle for survival. Shindo has made other films of social significance, for example, The Naked 19-year-olds (1970; Gold Prize, Seventh International Film Festival in Moscow, 1971; Soviet title, Live Today, Die Tomorrow). He has written a number of works on the theory and practice of screenwriting. In 1952, Shindo and the director Yoshimura Kozaburo founded the independent film company Kindai in Tokyo.