Having been deeply involved in theater and the student protest movement while at university, Oshima joined Shochiku Ofuna in 1954, where he accrued experience working as an assistant director to OBA Hideo and NOMURA Yoshitaro, among others. He was also a prolific writer of scripts, which he published in film and literary magazines. In 1959, he made his directorial feature debut with A Town of Love and Hope (Ai to kibo no machi), later scoring a hit with his second feature, Cruel Story of Youth (Seishun zankoku monogatari, 1960), whose vivid scenes of sex and violence drew attention to Oshima as a leading figure of the Shochiku New Wave. When Night and Fog in Japan (Nihon no yoru to kiri, 1960), known for its politically subversive content, was shelved by Shochiku only a few days after its release, Oshima left the studio to found his own production company, Sozosha, the following year. As an independent, he continued to release challenging films that pushed against the boundaries of convention, such as the ATG collaborations Death by Hanging (Koshikei, 1968) and Boy (Shonen, 1969), as well as television documentaries of a similar vein. After dissolving Sozosha in 1973, he expanded his sphere of operations beyond Japan, making waves internationally with In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no corrida, 1967), a collaboration with a French production company, and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Senjo no meri kurisumasu, 1983), starring David Bowie and SAKAMOTO Ryuichi. A champion of true cinematic freedom, Oshima remained a rebel to the end, skewering the dark underside of Japanese society through works that continue to prove relevant and provocative to this day.

(Written by NAKANISHI Kanako / Reference: National Film Archive of Japan screening program / Translated by Adam Sutherland)