Director

Yōichi Sai

Directing

Career Snapshot

Explained

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Directed credits

Established

Strong directing catalog.

TMDB popularity

0.8

Low visibility

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Directed movies: 29Directed series: 1All crew credits: 32

TMDB ID: 226920

IMDb ID: nm0756406

Known for: Directing

Born: July 6, 1949

Died: November 27, 2022

Age: 73

Place of birth: Nagano, Japan

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1976 - 2022

Years active: 47

Average TMDB rating: 6.51

Wikidata: Q906332

Also known as

Choi Yang-il • Yang-il Choi • Yôichi Sai • Yohichi Sai • Yōichi Sai • 崔洋一

Frequent jobs

Director (23)Assistant Director (7)Producer (1)Screenplay (1)

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Biography

Yōichi Sai (born 6 July 1949 in Nagano Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese film director. His mother is Japanese, His father is zainichi Korean. His 2004 film Chi to hone won four Japanese Academy Awards, including two for Sai himself, for Best Director and Best Screenplay. He had previously received two nominations in the same categories for Tsuki wa dotchi ni dete iru. In 1999 he shot Buta no mukui (The Pig's Retribution), a film set in the lavish natural scenery of Okinawa, inspired by the 1996 Akutagawa Prize-winning eponymous novel by Eiki Matayoshi. The film won the Don Quixote prize at Locarno International Film Festival in 1999. He won the award for Best Screenplay at the 11th Yokohama Film Festival for A Sign Days. As an actor, he appeared in Nagisa Oshima's 1999 film Taboo. He is the current president of the Directors Guild of Japan.