Naomi Kawase (河瀨直美 Kawase Naomi, born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director. She graduated from Visual Arts Osaka in 1989. Many of her works have been documentaries, including Embracing, about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and Katatsumori, about the grandmother who raised her. Aside from being a filmmaker, she is the founder and Executive Director for the Nara International Film Festival.

KNOWN FOR

Welcome Back For An Extracurricular Lesson, Sempai
1999
Homemade
2020
Still the Water
2014
Sweet Bean
2015
True Mothers
2020
Love & Pop
1998
Radiance
2017
Yakushima's Illusion
2025
The Wolf, the Fox, and the Leopard
2026
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero
2011
Emergency Exit
2025
3.11 A Sense of Home Films
2011

FILMOGRAPHY

All
Movies
TV
Acting
25
Directing
55
Writing
25
Producing
16
Camera
12
Editing
13
Sound
2
Crew
1
2026
The Wolf, the Fox, and the Leopard
as Tanaka
2026
Echoes of Motherhood
· unreleased
2025
Emergency Exit
2021
What Kento Nakajima Wants to Know About Movies Now
2020
It Stopped Raining
as Koyomi's Mother
2016
Amami
as Self
2014
Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
as Self
2013
Shining Besides Funny Moon
2013
The Tale of Iya
as Dr. Amamiya
2012
Trace
as Self
2011
Destroy Vicious
2008
Rien ne s'efface
as elle-même
2006
Birth/Mother
as Self
2004
Women Make Films
as Self
2003
Shara
as Reiko
2002
Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom
as Self
2001
Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth
as Self
1999
Kaleidoscope
as Self
1999
Welcome Back For An Extracurricular Lesson, Sempai
as Self
1998
Love & Pop
as Woman speaking to Hiromi (voice)
1996
Sun on the Horizon
as Self
1995
See Heaven
as Self
1995
Memory of the Wind
as Herself
1994
Katatsumori
as Self
1992
Embracing
as Self