Kei Kumai

{{Short description|Japanese film director (1930–2007)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Kei Kumai

| image = Kei Kumai.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1930|06|01}}

| birth_place = Azumino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2007|05|23|1930|06|01}}

| occupation = Film director

| spouse = Akiko Kumai

}}

{{nihongo|Kei Kumai|熊井 啓|Kumai Kei|1 June 1930 – 23 May 2007}} was a Japanese film director. After his studies in literature at Shinshu University, he began work as a director's assistant.{{cite web|url=http://www.sankei.co.jp/enak/2007/glace/may/kiji/23obits_kumaikei.html|title=映画監督の熊井啓氏が死去|publisher=Fuji Sankei Shinbun|access-date=2 November 2019}}

He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his first film, Nihon rettō, in 1965.{{cite web|url=http://www.dgj.or.jp/award_g/|title=Nihon Eiga Kantoku Kyōkai Shinjinshō|publisher=Directors Guild of Japan|language=ja|access-date=11 December 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122022302/http://dgj.or.jp/award_g/|archive-date=22 November 2010}} His 1972 film Shinobu Kawa was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1973 |title=8th Moscow International Film Festival (1973) |access-date=2013-01-03 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116194922/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1973 |archive-date=2013-01-16 }} His 1973 film Rise, Fair Sun was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203316/awards |title=IMDB.com: Awards for Rise, Fair Sun |access-date=2010-07-02 |work=imdb.com}}

Sandakan No. 8 received widespread acclaim for tackling the issue of a woman forced into prostitution in Borneo before the outbreak of World War II. Kinuyo Tanaka won the Best Actress Award at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance.{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1975/03_preistr_ger_1975/03_Preistraeger_1975.html |title=Berlinale 1975: Prize Winners |access-date=2010-07-11 |work=berlinale.de}} The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 48th Academy Awards.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1976 |title=The 48th Academy Awards (1976) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2012-03-18 |work=oscars.org}}

Kumai's follow-up film was 1976's Cape of North, starring French actress Claude Jade as a Swiss nun who falls in love with a Japanese engineer on a trip from Marseilles to Yokohama. His 1986 film The Sea and Poison won the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1987/03_preistr_ger_1987/03_Preistraeger_1987.html |title=Berlinale: 1987 Prize Winners |access-date=2011-03-03 |work=berlinale.de}} In 1992, his film Luminous Moss was entered into the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1992/02_programm_1992/02_Programm_1992.html |title=Berlinale: 1992 Programme |access-date=2011-05-27 |work=berlinale.de}}

Other works include Death of a Tea Master starring Toshirō Mifune as Sen no Rikyū (Silver Lion at the 46th Venice International Film Festival), and the 2002 film The Sea Is Watching, based on Akira Kurosawa's posthumous script.

Kumai was married to the writer and researcher Akiko Kumai.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-02 |title=作家の熊井明子さん死去、84歳 「私の部屋のポプリ」シリーズ：朝日新聞デジタル |url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASSB21VN3SB2UCVL018M.html |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=朝日新聞デジタル |language=ja}} He died in 2007 at age 76.{{Cite news |date=2007-05-25 |title=Kei Kumai, 76, Japanese Director Who Specialized in True Stories, Dies (Published 2007) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/movies/25kumai.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210194230/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/movies/25kumai.html |archive-date=2023-12-10 |access-date=2024-12-30 |language=en |url-status=live }}