Utako Koguchi
Director · Tokyo, Japan
Born in Tokyo. Studied theater in the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences at Waseda University, and began making 8mm films. Has worked as a dance instructor, editor, film publicist, film crew member, and art school assistant, and develops visual art performances and sessions that transcend genres. Major works include The Rain (selected for the 1982 Pia FilmFestival), O-de-ka-ke Diary (Grand Prize at the 1989 Image ForumFestival), The Sleeping Flower (Special Jury Prize at the 1991 Image ForumFestival), and A Dandelion (Rosaceae) (1990 Ebiten golden director). Active in nurturing young talent as coordinator of arts events and workshops, and teaches at universities including Musashino Art University, Tama Art University, and at the Art and Architecture School of Waseda University.
Movies4
Movie6.0Using stop-motion animation, what Koguchi called 無理矢理アニメ (forced animation), twin sisters Lulu and Lala go through enchanting bodily transformations. The film is a playful and disorienting exploration of sexuality, gender ambiguity, and the chaos of desire, made in the shadow of the AIDS crisis.
Movie
MovieAn intimate portrait of Koguchi's grandmother and a tender, oblique meditation on mortality through performance, this film won the Special Jury Prize at Image Forum Festival in 1992.
Movie6.0Shot on 8mm with a handheld camera, Koguchi performs as a wandering figure who traverses the urban and natural landscapes of Tokyo. A diary-film in which the distance between filmmaker, performer, and subject collapses entirely, this film won Koguchi the Grand Prize at Image Forum Festival in 1989.
Series1
TV6.0MysteryThe fictional girls' magazine Monthly Ophelia unfolds the literary world of three female writers born in 1896. Ophelia, a legendary girl who died by the river, is resurrected as a boy and lives deep underwater. She reminisces about her childhood and immerses herself in her favorite books across time.