The Cats of Gokogu Shrine
Kazuhiro Soda was born in Ashikaga, Japan in 1970. He studied religions at the University of Tokyo and filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Soda is a Peabody Award winning filmmaker. He's also a recipient of the Marek Nowicki lifetime achievement prize awarded by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. He practices an observational method of documentary filmmaking based on his own "Ten Commandments" which prohibits him from doing pre-shoot research or writing a synopsis before filming. He imposes these rules on himself in order to minimize preconceptions and to be able to make unexpected discoveries while filming and editing. Soda is also the author of nine books published in Japanese. One of his books Why I Make Documentaries has been translated into English, Korean, and Chinese.
Filmography: The Cats of Gokogu Shrine (2024), Zero (2020), Inland Factory (2018), Oyster Factory (2015), Peace (2010), Mental (2008), Campaign (2007)
