"I have depicted so many things, but I have depicted only one thing," Kaneto Shindo once said. "It is how humans live." And on April 22, the venerable filmmaker — the oldest working director in Japan — will celebrate his 100th birthday.
Film lovers are celebrating too, as 48 Shindo films are being screened in 11 venues around his hometown of Hiroshima this month and next under the banner "Shindo Kaneto Hyakunen no Kiseki" ("100 Years of Kaneto Shindo's Path").
The films are not subtitled in English, but Shindo's award-winning movie "Hadaka no Shima (The Naked Island)" is free of dialogue anyway — so perhaps that could be your introduction to Shindo's world.