Sanezumi Fujimoto

Sanezumi Fujimoto

Original Name 藤本 真澄
Born July 15, 1910
Ryojun, Manchuria
Died May 2, 1979 (68)

Fujimoto began his long career inauspiciously by submitting articles to the film journal Kinema Junpo under the pseudonym Yasushi Tsukamoto. After school he was invited to join PCL (Toho’s predecessor studio) by then president Iwao Mori. He began as an assistant director, but during production of Tadashi Imai’s Ecology of Marriage (1940) he transitioned into a producer role. He left Toho following a labor dispute in 1947, and founded his own film company, Fujimoto Productions. He returned to Toho in 1951 in a full-time producer capacity.

Fujimoto, together with fellow producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, produced the vast majority of Toho’s films during the Golden Age of Japanese filmmaking. Tanaka specialized in action and sci-fi films, whereas Fujimoto specialized in comedies and literary adaptations. The films they produced together were considerably epic and blended their preferred genres, films like The Birth of Japan (1959) and The Last War (1961). Both men produced over 200 films apiece over the course of their careers. Fujimoto served as president of Toho from 1971 through 1974, before ceding the position to Tanaka.

Fujimoto produced the inaugural Japan Academy Awards in 1978. After his death, Toho established the Fujimoto Prize in his honor; it is the only award given specifically to producers in the film industry.

Original Name 藤本 真澄
Born July 15, 1910
Ryojun, Manchuria
Died May 2, 1979 (68)

Fujimoto began his long career inauspiciously by submitting articles to the film journal Kinema Junpo under the pseudonym Yasushi Tsukamoto. After school he was invited to join PCL (Toho’s predecessor studio) by then president Iwao Mori. He began as an assistant director, but during production of Tadashi Imai’s Ecology of Marriage (1940) he transitioned into a producer role. He left Toho following a labor dispute in 1947, and founded his own film company, Fujimoto Productions. He returned to Toho in 1951 in a full-time producer capacity.

Fujimoto, together with fellow producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, produced the vast majority of Toho’s films during the Golden Age of Japanese filmmaking. Tanaka specialized in action and sci-fi films, whereas Fujimoto specialized in comedies and literary adaptations. The films they produced together were considerably epic and blended their preferred genres, films like The Birth of Japan (1959) and The Last War (1961). Both men produced over 200 films apiece over the course of their careers. Fujimoto served as president of Toho from 1971 through 1974, before ceding the position to Tanaka.

Fujimoto produced the inaugural Japan Academy Awards in 1978. After his death, Toho established the Fujimoto Prize in his honor; it is the only award given specifically to producers in the film industry.