O Mipo Wins Tokyo Honor

Korean-Japanese director O Mipo accepted the 2026 Kurosawa Akira Award at Tokyo's Imperial Hotel, joining Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof as a recipient of the honor. The prize, presented under the umbrella of the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival, recognizes established filmmakers who represent the future of cinema. O described the moment she learned of the selection as a state of pure disbelief, wondering if the organizers had made an error. She stated that she gratefully accepted the award because she felt it was a surprise that they found her among all the directors in Japan.

O’s career began in 1999 when she worked as a script supervisor for director Obayashi Nobuhiko. Her early success came in 2002 when her short film Eye won at the Short Shorts Film Festival in Tokyo. In 2005, her debut feature screenplay The Sakai's Happiness secured the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award, leading to her first feature film. Her 2010 drama Here Comes the Bride, My Mom! received the grand prize at the Shindo Kaneto Awards. In 2014, her film The Light Shines Only There was selected as Japan's submission for the Academy Award for best foreign language film.

Following the 2015 release of the drama Being Good, O stepped away from feature films to raise her two sons. She remained active in the industry by contributing a segment to the 2022 international anthology Tell It Like a Woman. She returned to directing features in 2024 with the coming-of-age drama Living in Two Worlds and followed that with the eco-themed children's drama How Dare You? in 2025. O noted that her three-year hiatus thinned out job offers, creating an ironic financial situation where returning to full-time movie work has left her finances a bit bleak.

O observes that the Japanese film industry has changed dramatically since she entered the field more than two decades ago. She points to the growing number of female staff members and directors as evidence of this shift. The production culture has also moved away from a pyramid structure where directors sat at the top, adopting a system where respect training is common and participants stand on more equal footing regarding rights. Despite these domestic improvements, she believes the overseas market for Japanese cinema has not yet fully taken off, despite nearly 700 Japanese films being released each year.

She expresses a desire to expand her work internationally, citing the examples of directors Kore-eda Hirokazu and Hamaguchi Ryusuke. O stated she wants to go to Hollywood someday and hopes a wider range of Japanese films reaches international festivals. She also defends her parallel career in directing television commercials, noting that no director in Japan can survive on movies alone. Most rely on streaming, TV dramas, and advertising to sustain their careers, a reality that contrasts with Hollywood where directors are typically paid from the planning stage, whereas in Japan they receive no money until production begins.

On the topic of artificial intelligence, O asserts that the technology has already become an inseparable part of filmmaking and daily life. She does not believe machines will replace human filmmakers, advising her sons to keep asking themselves what they think and what they really want to do. She suggests that consulting AI can lead to richer results as long as a strong sense of self comes first. She draws inspiration from her mentor Obayashi, the experimental filmmaker behind the 1977 cult sci-fi hit House, which was released the year O was born.

Obayashi died at 82, Kurosawa at 88, and Shindo Kaneto at 100, giving O, who is 49, a perspective of decades ahead in her career. She views the gap in her career caused by raising children as a period she is now correcting. She stated that with the new award, she feels she is getting back on track and is making up for lost time in her professional trajectory.