The Japanese film industry used to be like much of the rest of Japanese society: male-centered and male-run. It made plenty of movies about women and for women, but their directors were all men. That began to change when Naomi Kawase won a Cannes Camera d'Or prize in 1997 for her first feature, "Moe no Suzaku (Suzaku)," but for a long time she headed a very short list of female directors here.
In the past decade or so, however, that list has expanded dramatically, while the impact of women behind the camera has grown beyond mere numbers: Directors such as Miwa Nishikawa, Momoko Ando, Yuki Tanada and Yang Yong-hi have made some of the best recent Japanese films, judging by the awards, festival invitations and critical praise they've received.
Ayumi Sakamoto now joins the ranks of these directors with "Forma," her first feature after a long apprenticeship under indie director Shinya Tsukamoto. Since winning the best picture award in the Japanese Cinema Splash section of Tokyo Film Festival in 2013, this drama of female revenge has won additional awards at festivals in Berlin and Hong Kong, and was invited to the Nippon Connection festival in Frankfurt.