Hosaku Yasui

Biography: Hosaku Yasui (安井 豊作, Yasui Hōsaku), born in 1960 in Tokyo, is a Japanese film critic and director, also known by the name Yutaka Yasui (安井 豊, Yasui Yutaka). He graduated from Hosei University and has been deeply involved in Japan's independent and experimental film scene. He has served as a curator at the Athénée Français Cultural Center, editorial board member of Cahiers du Cinéma Japon, and founding secretary-general of the Film School of Tokyo (映画美学校). In 2011, he published the book Shine Toride Enjōsu (The Cine Fortress Burns), which was reviewed in Eiga Geijutsu, Tokyo Shimbun, and Shūkan Dokushojin. As a filmmaker, he directed the feature film Rocks Off (2011), starring musician Keiji Haino, which captures the demolition of Hosei University's student hall. He also appeared as an actor in The Great Illusion (大いなる幻影, 1999) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa credited under the name Yutaka Yasui.