Nobuhiko Obayashi
| Nobuhiko Obayashi 大林宣彦 |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
9 January 1938 Onomichi, Hiroshima, Japan |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, editor, film producer |
| Years active | 1960–present |
Nobuhiko Obayashi (大林 宣彦 Ōbayashi Nobuhiko?, born 9 January 1938) is a Japanese director, screenwriter and editor of films and television advertisements who is well known for his surreal visual style. He began his career as a pioneering figure in Japanese experimental film during the 1960s before transitioning to directing more mainstream works such as television and feature films. Though he remains mostly unknown outside Japan, he has made many films in his 50 years of working with the medium.
Obayashi was born on 9 January 1938 in the city of Onomichi, Japan. He was the eldest son of a father who was one in a long paternal line of medical doctors. As his father was called to the battlefront during World War II, he was raised in his early infancy by his maternal grandparents. Through his childhood and adolescence Obayashi followed many artistic pursuits including drawing, writing, playing the piano, and a growing interest in animation and film.
In 1955 Obayashi, at the urging of his father, began procedures to enter medical school and become a doctor. However, he shortly thereafter abandoned this initiative partway through an entrance examination in order to follow his artistic interests. In 1956 he was accepted to the liberal arts department of Seijo University where he began to work with 8 and 16mm film. Toward the end of his stay at the university Obayashi began working on a series of experimental films. Along with works by other filmmakers such as Shuji Terayama and Donald Richie, Obayshi's films would develop the tone of Japanese experimental cinema through the 1960s. In these early experimental films Obayashi employed a number of avant-garde techniques that he would carry into his later mainstream work. Though these films tended to be of a personal nature, they received public viewership due to distribution by the Art Theatre Guild.
...
Wikipedia