Kenzo Horikoshi

Production

Kenzo Horikoshi

Born 1945-01-01 · Suginami, Tokyo, Japan

After graduating from Waseda University Kenzo Horikoshi went into entrepreneurship founding Europe-Japan Society travel agency which was later sold to Japan Airlines. During his travels associated with this venture, Horikoshi became interested with the New German Cinema of Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder and upon his return to Japan in 1977, he organised the German New Film Festival to help introduce the movement. In 1982 as a pioneer of the boom, Horikoshi opened the Euro Space micro-cinema in Shibuya where he helped produce and distribute films for renowned independent filmmakers such as Isao Yamada, Gakuryû Ishii, as well as sponsored western directors like Charles Musser and Frank Henenlotter to come and present their work in Japan. After this Horikoshi, through Euro Space, would become a key figure in both the production of independent films at home in Japan working with directors such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Makoto Sato, Shinji Aoyama, Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takashi Shimizu, and in helping directors from the West produce films in Japan such as with Matthias X. Oberg's Stratosphere Girl and Abbas Kiarostami's highly acclaimed Like Someone in Love. Throughout this period Euro Space also maintained it's position as a vital distributor of mainland European films into Japan, importing works from the likes of Lars von Trier, François Ozon, Aki Kaurismäki and Ulrich Seidl. But most notably was the regular collabration with Leos Carax, all of whoms films from The Lovers on the Bridge onward were distributed by Euro Space, which Horikoshi first took a more hands-on approach with by taking on a producer role for Carax's contribution to the Tokyo! omnibus film, and then again later with a producer role in the Cannes 2021 opening film, Annette.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Annette poster
6.7

In present-day Los Angeles, controversial stand-up comedian Henry McHenry and internationally renowned opera singer Ann Defrasnoux form the façade of a happy couple in the spotlight. Ann gives birth to a baby girl named Annette, who possesses an exceptional gift that will change all of their lives forever.

Annette

2021

Smoke poster
7.2

Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.

Smoke

1995

Water Drops on Burning Rocks poster
6.4

In 1970s Germany, Léopold, a 50-year-old businessman, picks up and seduces 20-year-old Franz, who swiftly moves into his apartment. The dynamic between them intensifies with the sudden arrival of their ex-girlfriends.

Water Drops on Burning Rocks

2000

Like Someone in Love poster
6.9

An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.

Like Someone in Love

2012

Kazuo Ohno poster
NR

Kazuo Ohno, Father of the Butoh Dance, first appeared on stage at the age of 43. He left the stage only at the age of one hundred, three years before he died. This short, dialogue-less film presents the exceptional range of expressions that this Japanese dancer could achieve, both with makeup and costumes and without.

Kazuo Ohno

1995

Tokyo Eyes poster
6.7

The police are tracking a man who shoots at people. But the young sister of a detective finds that he's not the mad vigilante portrayed in newspapers.

Tokyo Eyes

1998

Trouble Maker Lucy poster
10.0

A nasty trigger girl, named Lucy who always making any trouble and bother everyone's around her life. With her behavior lead to the chaos in everywhere she goes. It seems, when the trouble happened she wills be happy as her favorites. Meanwhile, she has to encounter with her opponent, Hanako in such funny competition. Then, a fierce battle Lucy and Hanako ensues.

Trouble Maker Lucy

2004

The Written Face poster
8.0

In Japanese theater, women's roles are traditionally played by men. The man playing the woman's role, the Onnagata, does not imitate the woman, as in the West, but tries to capture her significance. He need not stick close to his model, but draws far more from his own identity - a shift of value takes place, which is nonetheless not a step beyond. THE WRITTEN FACE is an attempt to offer an insight into the Japanese Kabuki star Tamasaburo Bando, one of the last defenders of this ancient and disappearing performing tradition.

The Written Face

1995

Angel Dust poster
6.7

Every Monday, a young woman is murdered in the subway, leading psychiatrist Setsuko Suma to investigate Dr. Rei Aku's deprogramming of former sect members.

Angel Dust

1994

The Sound of Waves poster
7.0

The first part of a trilogy focusing on the northeast Tohoku region, co-directed by Sakai Ko and Hamaguchi Ryusuke. Impromptu interviews were carried out with disaster victims mainly along the Sanriku Coast, which had been ravaged by tsunamis several times prior to the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, and makes emotional discoveries within dialogues between close-knit people including families and workmates.

The Sound of Waves

2012

Secret Journey poster
4.0

I (Ken MItsuishi), documentary video maker, saw a guy named YUDA (Kazuma Honda) in middle of Tokyo. I was curious about Yuda and begun following him around, but one day he disappeared with my video camera. A couple months later, a lady name Michi Nakamura (Yukiko Okamoto) came to my office. She had the strap of my video camera that Yuda stole from me, and said she saw the address that was on the strap, so she came here. I asked her about Yuda, and she told me that he was dead. Right after she left my office, she was hit by a car, I visited her in hospital and she begins to tell me about the mysterious story of her and Yuda.

Secret Journey

2004

Love Kill Kill poster
5.3

A porn fanatic, a drifter, a jobless man and a magic-mushroom farmer are drawn together at an orgy.

Love Kill Kill

2004

Katame dake no koi poster
4.5

Yuka, a high school girl who lost her mother at a young age and lives with her father, has secretly been in love with her cousin's husband, a university lecturer named Inoue, since she was nine years old. One day, the Inoue couple move into the neighborhood, and Yuka's previously suppressed desires begin to flare up.

Katame dake no koi

2004

Barren Illusion poster
5.7

In a near future where allergies have become an epidemic, music producer Haru half-heartedly dates post office clerk and mail thief Michi. He searches for violent ways to reactivate his life, she dreams of escaping abroad; both volunteer to test a new drug which may provide a cure.

Barren Illusion

1999

Self and Others poster
6.0

In 1983, photographer Gocho Shigeo met an early death at the young age of 36. The view we see reflected in Gocho’s photographic images has become more profound over time since his death and has struck a chord in people’s hearts. While focusing on Gocho’s collection of photographs Self and Others, the film also visits places associated with him, creating a collage with the manuscripts, letters, photographs and voice recordings remaining in an attempt to capture “one more gesture”—a theme pursued by Gocho through photographic expression. This film is neither a critical biography nor a monograph on the photographer. Rather, we are offered a new perception. As if mesmerized, the photographs Gocho left behind captivate us in their gaze.

Self and Others

2001

Sodom the Killer poster
6.0

Bad things happen when innocent blood is shed. In the early 1700s, Lord Sodom Ichibei is happily celebrating his wedding day when his wife-to-be suddenly dies. In his search for an explanation, he kills any and every suspect he comes across. When Lord Ichibei tortures and kills two innocent girls, their death brings about a curse on the Sodom family. Three hundred years later, one of Sodom's descendents, Ichiro, is also set to be married. But one of the innocent victims has been reincarnated as Ichiro's sister and she kills everyone at the wedding. This transforms Ichiro into the evil and vengeful "Sodom The Killer", a cursed man hell-bent on slaughter and the world's destruction...

Sodom the Killer

2004

Tsukineko Ni Mitsu No Tama poster
NR

Oosumi, a dummy artist, makes the figure of Mari who is the wife of a gangster called Kurokin. Oosumi decides to run away with Mari, but Mari disappears. One night, Kaako, a musician's wife, meets a ghost cat and she is possessed by Mari's spirit.

Tsukineko Ni Mitsu No Tama

2004

Like a Desperado Under the Eaves poster
NR

The main character Akihiko lives in an old apartment. He plays the guitar and sings his own pieces on the street, but this cannot be called his dream. He has a girlfriend. The owner of the apartment next-door constantly repeats Buddhist prayers night and day. On the floor above, there lives a strange middle-aged man who wants to be kicked out of the apartment. Such an ordinary day exists. Akihiko is standing still on the street at dawn.

Like a Desperado Under the Eaves

2003