Yuki Tanada facts for kids

Yuki Tanada (タナダユキ, Tanada Yuki) was born on August 12, 1975, in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. She is a talented Japanese film director and screenwriter. Yuki grew up in Kitakyushu and loved theater in high school. After high school, she went to a special film school called the Image Forum Institute of the Moving Image to learn how to make movies. Her most recent movie, My Broken Mariko, came out in Japan on September 30, 2022. This film was based on a story by Waka Hirako.

Yuki's Journey in Film

Yuki Tanada started her journey in filmmaking after studying theater in high school. She then went to a film school to learn all about making movies.

Her first independent film, Moru, was a big success! It won the top award at the 2001 Pia Film Festival. This was a great start to her career.

Later, her documentary film, Takada Wataru: A Japanese Original, was shown at the 2003 Tokyo International Film Festival. This film was about a Japanese folk singer.

In 2008, Yuki won a special award called the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for her movie One Million Yen Girl. This award is given to new directors who show great talent.

Besides directing, Yuki also writes the stories for many of her films. She even wrote the script for another director's movie, Sakuran, which was directed by Mika Ninagawa. She has also directed shows for television.

Being a Female Filmmaker in Japan

In Japan's film world, there are two main types of movies: really big movies with huge budgets and very small movies with tiny budgets. There isn't much in between.

Yuki Tanada often works on films with smaller budgets, especially when she started. She says that big budget films get a lot of advertising, but her goal is to help smaller films get more attention. The problem is that small films don't have much money for advertising. This means filmmakers have to work extra hard to promote their movies.

For example, her movie One Million Yen Girl had a medium budget. But it didn't get enough advertising to reach all the people she wanted. This made it seem like a low-budget film. Big movies can advertise all over the world, which makes it hard for medium-sized films to compete. Yuki believes this is a big challenge in the film industry.

As a Japanese female filmmaker, Yuki has noticed that in Japan, women can choose almost any job they want. She feels there are no limits because she is a woman anymore. She thinks this is a good thing about the Japanese film industry compared to others.

Yuki also sees a bright future for online platforms like Netflix in Japan. She mentions how the Coen brothers made the movie Fargo, which later became a TV series. She believes that more streaming TV shows could become very popular in Japan.

Strong Female Characters in Film

Yuki Tanada likes to explore the roles of women in her movies. She often features young female characters who are strong and independent.

Two of her well-known films, Moon and Cherry (2004) and One Million Yen Girl (2008), have female main characters. These characters make their own choices and live life on their own terms. Even when they make mistakes, they are still trying to achieve their dreams and be true to themselves. This helps show that women in her films have their own unique personalities and goals.

Films by Yuki Tanada

Movies

• Moru (モル) (2001)
• Takada Wataru: A Japanese Original (タカダワタル的, Takada Wataru Teki) (2003)
• Moon and Cherry (2004)
• Akai bunka jūtaku no Hatsuko (赤い文化住宅の初子) (2007)
• One Million Yen Girl (2008)
• Ain't No Tomorrows (2008)
• The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky (2012)
• My Dad and Mr. Ito (2016)
• Romance Doll (ロマンスドール) (2019)
• The Cinematic Liars of Asahi-za (2021)
• My Broken Mariko (2022)

Online Shows

• Tokyo Women's Guidebook (東京女子図鑑, Tōkyō Joshi Zukan) (2016) [This was later re-released as Tokyo Girl in 2018.]