Shutaro Oku
Shutaro Oku (奥秀太郎 Oku Shūtarō, born in 1975 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese film director and visual planner.
Biography
Oku Shutaro was awarded "special mention" at Seoul Film Festival in 2002 with his maiden work "KAI-ON". Since then he has produced a series of films constantly, such as "The Labor Cop", "Japanese Naked Tribe", and "Aka-sen". He has been officially invited by worldwide film festivals since the first invitation from Berlin International Film Festival in 2006 with his work "Cain's Descendant". His succeeding works include "Death of Domomata" and "USB". In between his theatrical releases he directed "Ten-sho-chi," a documentary focusing on the rare talents of theatre directors Yukio Ninagawa, Hideki Noda and Mashide Komaki. As a stage visual planner, Oku Shutaro has directed "Elisabeth" for Toho Musicals, "The Character" for NODA MAP and "Casablanca" for Takarazuka, etc. After his good use of videos/visuals in "Tap Man x Piano Man x Movie Man," and "Yoshida Brothers Live", he was highly praised for his originality and possibility in "Kuroneko(Black Cat)" and was received "Ecellent Staff Award" at Yomiuri Theater Awards in 2008. Since then, in addition to his works "Kimidori", "Freaks", and "South of Heaven", Oku Shutaro has been directing treatre works constantly full of originality.
Filmography
- KAI-ON (2000, 74min)
- The Labor Cop (2002, 91min)
- Ten-Sho-Chi (A yet to be released) -- documentary on the Japanese legendary treatre directors Yukio Ninagawa, Hideki Noda and Masahide Komaki.
- Japanese Naked Tribe (2003, 72min)
- AKA-SEN (2004, 90min) -- This film featured Japanese Kabuki star Shido Nakamura in his first leading role.
- Cain's Descendant (2006, 90min) -- Officially selected for the 57th Berlinale Forum Section.
- Death of Domomata (2007, 90min) Moto Hagio guest appearance
- USB (2009, 90min)
Stage direction history
- 2005 Tap Man
- 2006 Tap Man × Piano Man
- 2006 Boys Electone Conspiracy
- 2006 Tap man × Piano Man × Movie Man
- 2007 Hibiki Inamoto + Souun Takeda Live
- 2008 Yoshida Brothers Live 2008 Yu-Shun
- 2008 Kuroneko
- 2010 Red Shoes
- 2010 Kimidori
- 2010 Freaks
- 2011 South Of Heaven
- 2011 Byakuya
Stage visual planning history
- 2002 SLAPSTICK / Takarazuka Revue
- 2002 MOZART! (Another showing in 2005,2007 and 2010) / Toho
- 2004 Elisabeth (Another showing in 2005,2006,2008 and 2010) / Toho
- 2006 Never Say Goodbye / Takarazuka Revue
- 2007 The Bee / NODA MAP
- 2009 Piper / NODA MAP
- 2009 Casablanca / Takarazuka Revue
- 2010 Cabaret
- 2010 Roman Holiday / Umeda Arts Theater
- 2010 The Character / NODA MAP
- 2011 to South / NODA MAP
- 2011 MITSUKO / Umeda Arts Theater