Shion Sono

Sion Sono (b. 1961, Toyokawa, Japan) garnered attention at age 17 when he began publishing experimental poetry. He dropped out of university to make 8mm movies – his first film, the 30-minute I Am Sion Sono!! was shown at the PIA festival in 1985. Since his feature-length debut Bicycle Sighs (1990), he has made a new film practically every year. Over time, he has earned a reputation as one of the most non-conformist Japanese filmmakers around today, and his films have been shown at festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Toronto. At past festivals in Karlovy Vary, audiences were able to see Noriko's Dinner Table (Noriko no shokutaku, 2005, awarded the Special Jury Prize), Love Exposure (Ai no mukidashi, 2008) and Guilty of Romance (Koi no tsumi, 2011).

50. MFF Karlovy Vary