
Directing
Born April 1, 1908 · Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
Fumio Kamei (1908–1987) was a Japanese documentary and fiction film director known for his politically charged works. Influenced by Soviet montage theory, he began his career at Photo Chemical Laboratories (PCL), making propaganda films about Japan’s war in China. His 1939 film Fighting Soldiers was banned for its unflinching portrayal of exhausted troops, and he later became the first director to lose his license under the 1939 Film Law and the only filmmaker arrested under the Peace Preservation Law. After World War II, Kamei helped reorganize Nippon Eiga-sha and directed The Japanese Tragedy (1946), a documentary critical of Japan’s imperialist past, which was ultimately censored. He continued making politically engaged documentaries and fiction films, tackling issues such as U.S. military bases in Japan, nuclear weapons, social discrimination, and environmental destruction.
All Living Things Are Friends—Lullabies of Birds, Insects and Fish
1987
All Must Live: People, Insects and Birds
1984

Men Are All Brothers
1960
Living in a Rough Sea
1958

The World Is Terrified: The Reality of the “Ash of Death”
1957

Record of Bloodshed: Sunagawa
1957

It Is Good to Live
1956
Wheat Will Never Fall
1955
The People of Sunagawa
1955

A Lonely Woman in a Lonely Land
1953
Children of the Base
1953

Become a Mother, Become a Woman
1952

A Woman's Life
1949

War and Peace
1947

Tragedy of Japan
1946

Kobayashi Issa
1941

Fighting Soldiers
1939
Peking
1938

Shanghai
1938
Shape without Shape
1935
The China Incident