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Naomi Kawase

Naomi Kawase

Born: 1969-05-30 • Nara, Japan

Naomi Kawase (河瀨直美 Kawase Naomi, born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director. She graduated from Visual Arts Osaka in 1989. Many of her works have been documentaries, including Embracing, about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and Katatsumori, about the grandmother who raised her. Aside from being a filmmaker, she is the founder and Executive Director for the Nara International Film Festival.

Filmography
Emergency Exit poster
Emergency Exit
2025
Echoes of Motherhood poster
Echoes of Motherhood
2025
The Wolf, the Fox, and the Leopard poster
The Wolf, the Fox, and the Leopard
2025
It Stopped Raining poster
It Stopped Raining
2020 • Koyomi's Mother
Amami poster
Amami
2016 • Self
Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women poster
Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
2014 • Self
The Tale of Iya poster
The Tale of Iya
2013 • Dr. Amamiya
Shining Besides Funny Moon poster
Shining Besides Funny Moon
2013
No Image
Trace
2012 • Self
Destroy Vicious poster
Destroy Vicious
2011
Birth/Mother poster
Birth/Mother
2006 • Self
Women Make Films poster
Women Make Films
2004 • Self
Shara poster
Shara
2003 • Reiko
Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom poster
Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom
2002 • Self
Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth poster
Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth
2001 • Self
Kaleidoscope poster
Kaleidoscope
1999 • Self
Love & Pop poster
Love & Pop
1998 • Woman speaking to Hiromi (voice)
Sun on the Horizon poster
Sun on the Horizon
1996
No Image
Memory of the Wind
1995 • Herself
See Heaven poster
See Heaven
1995 • Self
Katatsumori poster
Katatsumori
1994 • Self
Embracing poster
Embracing
1992 • Self