NISHIKAWA, Miwa

西川美和, b. 8 July 1974, Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima

• received a degree in literature at the University of Waseda.
• Koreeda Hirokazu urged her to join TV Man Union and work on his film After Life.
• after working as an assistant director on several independent films, she wrote and directed her first feature, Wild Berries (2003), which received the best screenplay prize at the Mainichi Film Competition. She next made a surrealist docudrama for NHK Hi Vision, with the star of Wild Berries. The film won a special prize in the documentary section of the ATP Awards.
• received the Best New Director award at the 2004 Yokohama Film Festival for Wild Berries.
• Sway received the Best Film award at the 2007 Yokohama Film Festival
• Dear Doctor won the Best Film Award at the 31st Yokohama Film Festival and was nominated for Best Film at the 33rd Japan Academy Awards

References:

• Holden, Stephen. Avid Bourgeois Respectability, Japanese-Style. The New York Times. 23 March 2003.
• Koyanagi, Michiko. Dear Doctor - An Interview with director Miwa Nishikawa, Tsurube Shofukutei and Eita. Coco Montreal. 17 Oct 2009.
• Laird, Colleen. "Imaging a Female Filmmaker: The Director Personas of Nishikawa Miwa and Ogigami Naoko." Promotional Materials. Spec. issue of Frames Cinema Journal. 3 (May 2013).
• Mes, Tom. Review of Sway. Midnight Eye. 13 Sept 2006.
• Munroe Hotes, Catherine. Review of Dear Doctor. Nishikata Film Review. 23 April 2010.
• Schilling, Mark. Lightening up the illusions. The Japan Times. 26 June 2009.
• Wilentz, David. Dream So Real: An Interview with Miwa Nishikawa. The Brooklyn Rail: Critical Perspectives on Arts, Politics, and Culture. October 2007.