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.
KNOWN FOR
Chobei the Rogue
1949
The China Incident
A Lonely Woman in a Lonely Land
1953
Record of Bloodshed: Sunagawa
1957
Become a Mother, Become a Woman
1952
A Woman's Life
1949
All Must Live: People, Insects and Birds
1984
Shanghai
1938
All Living Things Are Friends—Lullabies of Birds, Insects and Fish
1987
Kobayashi Issa
1941
Children of the Base
1953
War and Peace
1947