Biography

Sachi Hamano aka Sachiko Hamano and Chise Matoba, is a Japanese film director . She is the most prolific pink film director and written about.

Sachi Hamano was born in Tokushima prefecture in March 1948. While in high school, she decided that she wanted to become a film director. She studied photography for a time at university in Tokyo, then started working in film industry.

Although the film industry was male-dominated and reluctant to hire a female director, Hamano was able to begin working as an assistant director at independent studios starting in 1968. Early in her career, on the advice of film producers, Hamano dropped the feminine "ko" ending of her name, Sachiko. She also used the name Chise Matoba to direct the credits. She worked for a while at Kôji Wakamatsu Wakamatsu's Wakamatsu Pro, then for other major pink film directors, including Genji Nakamura. She made her directorial debut in 1971, with Million Film in Jûnana-sai, sukisuki-zoku (1972) (17-Year-Old Free Love Tribe).

With the goal of making films from a woman's perspective, in 1984, Hamano founded her own film production company, Tantansha. As a producer and director, she has released more than 300 films. For ENK, Hamano filmed the gay pinku eiga Honô no otokotachi (1990) in 1990. Her 1997 film, Pin-saro byôin: Nô-pan hakui (1997), received an Honorable Mention at the Pink Grand Prix. In 1998, with the financial support of over 12,000 donations from women all over Japan, she made the film Dai-nana kankai hoko: Osaki Midori o sagashite (1998) , based on the author's life and work, Midori Osaki. The film received the Amari Hayashi Award at the 2000 Japanese Independent Film Festival.

In 2001 she filmed Lily Festival (2001), based on Hôko Momotani's novel about sexuality among the elderly. The film received the award for Best Film at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 2003. In 2006, Hamano returned to Hôko Momotani, filming Kohorogi-jô (2007), based on another of her novels. Hamano published her autobiography, When a Woman Makes a Film in 2005.
- IMDb mini biography by: Mahou 5 star

Her work and perseverance in a working world full of men.

Her commitment to LGBT rights

Her empowerment

In my 50 years of making pinku eiga films, I always wanted to present them from a woman's perspective.