Biography

Fumio Kamei began his career when he briefly studied filmmaking in the Soviet Union in 1928. He later started working at Photo Chemical Laboratories where he made made documentaries (called bunka eiga/culture films) that were strongly influenced by Soviet montage theory. While several of these were pro-Imperial Japan propaganda films, one called Tatakau heitai (Fighting Soldiers) was attacked by authorities as a potentially anti-war film. Further controversy was caused by the film going out of its way to humanize the Chinese soldiers and victims of Japan's brutal conquest, for which the film was banned. After making a film about the poet Kobayashi Issa, Kamei became the first filmmaker to lose his license to direct under the 1939 Film Law and was the only Japanese film director arrested for violation of the Peace Preservation Law. He was released when his indictment was suspended after spending one year in detention, but remained on probation, with his everyday life placed under police observation. Kamei's defiance of Japan's nationalism and imperialism would only grow stronger after this and, after Japan's defeat in World War II and its occupation by the Allied Forces, made a film reflecting his views titled Nihon no higeki (Tragedy of Japan). The film condemned the expansionist nationalist policy of the Empire of Japan, which the film argues was the result of a capitalist system. The film shifts to the present day, reporting on war criminals at Sugamo Prison and stating that there were still more criminals at large, including the Emperor Hirohito. By Kamei's own accounts, many nationalistic Japanese were violently aggressive about the film's content and all of the film's prints were eventually confiscated by the authorities due to the possible civil unrest it may cause. Kamei would continue making films before retiring from filmmaking sometime during the 1960s. After this, he opened an antique shop in Shibuya called Toyojin. However, he attempted to make one last film about the environment and the destruction of the Earth called "All Living Things are Friends," but the film was never finished as Kamei died in February 1987.
- IMDb mini biography by: John-the-Turnip-Head