Kazuo Kuroki

Kazuo Kuroki 黒木和雄 Kuroki Kazuo was a Japanese film director who was particularly known for his films on World War II and the question of personal guilt He attended Doshisha University but left before graduating instead finding employment at Iwanami Productions There he directed PR films and documentary films while also participating in the Blue Group Ao no kai with other Iwanami filmmakers such as Noriaki Tsuchimoto Shinsuke Ogawa and Yōichi Higashi a group that was exploring new paths in documentary Kuroki left Iwanami after experiencing conflicts with the sponsors of Hokkaido My Love 1960 With Record of a Marathon Runner 1964 that helped spark changes in the Japanese documentary world Kuroki switched to fiction film independently producing Silence Has No Wings 1966 and showing it at the Art Theatre Guild He became one of the representative figures of ATG and independent Japanese cinema and was particularly known for a series of works dealing with the atomic bombings of Japan such as Tomorrow 1988 and The Face of Jizo 2004 These were in part spurred by his growing up near the city of Nagasaki Kurokis work also dealt with his own feelings of guilt from the war as he felt responsible when some of his fellow students who had been conscripted to work in a local factory died in Allied bombings and he did not help