Hirokazu Koreeda

Before embarking on a career as a film director, Kore-eda worked as an assistant director on documentaries for television. He eventually transitioned into directing, and directed his first television documentary, Lessons from a Calf, in 1991. He directed several other documentary films thereafter.

In 1995, at the Venice Film Festival, his first fiction feature film Maborosi won a Golden Osella Award for Best Cinematography. At the 1999 Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, he won awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay for his film After Life.

In 2005, he won the Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Film and Best Director for his film Nobody Knows. His 2008 film, Still Walking, also earned accolades, including Best Director at the 2009 Asian Film Awards.

In a 2009 interview, Kore-eda revealed that Still Walking is based on his own family.

His 2013 film, Like Father, Like Son, premiered and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It eventually did not win, but it won the Jury Prize, as well as a commendation from the Ecumenical Jury. In October 2013, the film won the Rogers People’s Choice Award at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival.

Kore-eda's 2015 film, Our Little Sister, was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, though it did not win. His 2016 film, After the Storm, debuted to critical acclaim at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category. For his work on the film, he won the award for Best Director at the Yokohama Film Festival. Kore-eda won Best Film and Best Director Japan Academy Prizes for his film The Third Murder (2017), which also screened in the main competition of the 74th Venice International Film Festival.

In 2018, his film, titled Shoplifters, about a young girl that is welcomed in by a family of shoplifters, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 2018, he won the Donostia Award for his lifetime achievement at San Sebastián International Film Festival.

In 2020, it was announced that he will direct Baby, Box, Broker. The film will be set in South Korea, featuring a predominantly South Korean cast and crew.