Toshio Matsumoto
Toshio Matsumoto (松本 俊夫, Matsumoto Toshio, March 25, 1932 – April 12, 2017) was a pioneering Japanese film director, video artist, and theorist whose avant-garde and experimental works significantly shaped postwar Japanese cinema. Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Matsumoto graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1955, majoring in aesthetics, which informed his innovative approach to filmmaking. His career spanned over six decades, during which he seamlessly blended documentary, experimental, and narrative forms, challenging conventional cinematic norms and exploring themes of identity, gender, sexuality, and socio-political upheaval.
Matsumoto began his career at Shinriken Films, a documentary production company, where he directed his first short film, Ginrin (Silver Ring), in 1955. This experimental promotional film, created in collaboration with the Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop) collective, marked the start of his boundary-pushing trajectory. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Matsumoto developed a new form of documentary filmmaking, which he termed “neo-documentarism,” fusing avant-garde aesthetics with documentary realism to reveal subjective and psychological dimensions. Notable works from this period include Nishijin (The Weavers of Nishijin) (1961) and Haha-tachi (Mother) (1967), both of which won prestigious awards at the Venice International Documentary Film Festival.
His most celebrated film, Funeral Parade of Roses (Bara no Soretsu) (1969), is a landmark of Japanese counter-cinema. Loosely inspired by Oedipus Rex, the film follows a transgender woman navigating Tokyo’s underground hostess clubs, blending surreal imagery, documentary-style realism, and experimental techniques. This work, along with others like For the Damaged Right Eye (1968), established Matsumoto as a fearless provocateur who addressed marginalized identities and subcultures during Japan’s turbulent 1960s.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Matsumoto expanded into video art, creating works such as Metastasis: Shinchintaisha (Metastasis: Metabolism) (1971) and Sway (スウェイ＝ゆらぎ) (1985), which explored perception and psychedelia. His later films, including Shura (Demons) (1971), Dogra Magra (1988), and Toro (Praying Mantis) (2012), continued to push formal and thematic boundaries. As a theorist, Matsumoto’s influential book, Eizo no Hakken: Avangyarudo to Dokyumentarii (The Discovery of Film: The Avant-Garde and Documentary) (1963), reshaped Japanese film discourse.
Matsumoto also made significant contributions to education, serving as a professor and dean at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, where he mentored experimental filmmaker Takashi Ito. He was president of the Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences and taught at the Kyushu Institute of Art and Design. His interdisciplinary approach, drawing from visual arts, literature, and psychology, cemented his legacy as a visionary whose work continues to inspire global audiences.
