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Shōhei Imamura (今村 昌平, Imamura Shōhei, Tokyo, 15 September 1926 – 30 May 2006) was a Japanese film director. Imamura was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d'Or awards. His eldest son Daisuke Tengan is also a script writer and film director, and worked on the screenplays to Imamura's films The Eel (1997), Dr. Akagi (1998), Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001) and 11'9''01 September 11 (2002). Though born to a comfortably upper-middle-class doctor's family in Tokyo, Imamura was introduced to another part of post-war Japanese society early in life. For a short time... MORE

Shōhei Imamura (今村 昌平, Imamura Shōhei, Tokyo, 15 September 1926 – 30 May 2006) was a Japanese film director. Imamura was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d'Or awards. His eldest son Daisuke Tengan is also a script writer and film director, and worked on the screenplays to Imamura's films The Eel (1997), Dr. Akagi (1998), Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001) and 11'9''01 September 11 (2002). Though born to a comfortably upper-middle-class doctor's family in Tokyo, Imamura was introduced to another part of post-war Japanese society early in life. For a short time after 1945, when Japan was in a devastated condition following the war, Imamura participated in the thriving black market selling cigarettes and liquor. Reflecting this period of his life, Imamura's interests as a filmmaker were usually focused on the lower strata of Japanese society. He studied Western history at Waseda University, but spent more time participating in theatrical and political activities (). He cited a viewing of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (羅生門, Rashōmon) in 1950 as an early inspiration, and said he saw it as an indication of the new freedom of expression possible in Japan in the post-war LESS