Junya Satō (1932-2019)

Alias:
Jun'ya Satō
Junya Sato
佐藤純弥

Birthplace:
Tokyo, Japan

Born:
November 6, 1932

Died:
February 9, 2019

Junya Satō (佐藤 純彌, Satō Jun'ya, 6 November 1932 – 9 February 2019) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.  His son, Tōya Satō (佐藤 東弥, Satō Tōya), is also a film director.  Born in Tokyo, Satō graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1956 with a degree in French literature. He joined the Toei studio and worked as an assistant to such directors as Tadashi Imai and Miyoji Ieki. He debuted as a director in 1963 with Rikugun Zangyaku Monogatari, for which he won a best newcomer's award at the Blue Ribbon Awards. While starting in mostly yakuza film, Satō eventually became known for big budget spectaculars. The Go Masters, a China-Japan co-production he co-directed with Duan Jishun, won the grand prize at the Montreal World Film Festival in 1983. He won the Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year in 1989 for The Silk Road.

Additional information:

The Search Form


Assistant Director:
1961  Invasion of the Neptune Men
1962  The King

Director:
1961  Invasion of the Neptune Men
1962  The King
1963  Tale of Army Brutality
1963  Zoku ôsho
1964  Raised in a Palace
1966  Thirst for Love
1967  Organized Violence
1967  Organized Violence II
1968  The Drifting Avenger
1969  Japan's Violent Gangs: The Boss and the Killers
1969  The Private Police
1969  Yakuza on Foot
1970  The Japan Derby Race
1970  The Last Kamikaze
1971  The Armed Organization
1971  The Gambler's Counterattack
1972  Gang Warfare
1972  Yakuza Skirmishes
1973  A True Story of the Private Ginza Police
1973  Fantasia
1973  Golgo 13
1973  Quarreling with Yakuza
1973  The Ando Gang Documentary Film
1974  Miracle on Lubang Island: Army Nakano School
1975  The Bullet Train
1976  Manhunt
1977  Proof of the Man
1978  Never Give Up
1980  Drive for the Future
1980  The Way to The Gold Medals
1982  The Go Masters
1983  Theater Of Life
1984  Kukai
1986  Lost in the Wilderness
1988  The Silk Road
1992  Hold Me and Kiss Me
1992  The Dream of Russia
1994  Psychic: Traveler to the Unknown
1997  The Peking Man
2002  金融腐蝕列島 再生
2005  Yamato
2010  Sakurada Gate Incident

Screenplay:
1961  Invasion of the Neptune Men
1962  The King
1963  Tale of Army Brutality
1963  Zoku ôsho
1964  Raised in a Palace
1966  Thirst for Love
1967  Organized Violence
1967  Organized Violence II
1968  The Drifting Avenger
1969  Japan's Violent Gangs: The Boss and the Killers
1969  The Private Police
1969  Yakuza on Foot
1970  The Japan Derby Race
1970  The Last Kamikaze
1971  The Armed Organization
1971  The Gambler's Counterattack
1972  Gang Warfare
1972  Yakuza Skirmishes
1973  A True Story of the Private Ginza Police
1973  Fantasia
1973  Golgo 13
1973  Quarreling with Yakuza
1973  The Ando Gang Documentary Film
1974  Miracle on Lubang Island: Army Nakano School
1975  The Bullet Train
1976  Manhunt
1977  Proof of the Man
1978  Never Give Up
1980  Drive for the Future
1980  The Way to The Gold Medals
1982  The Go Masters
1983  Theater Of Life
1984  Kukai
1986  Lost in the Wilderness
1988  The Silk Road
1992  Hold Me and Kiss Me
1992  The Dream of Russia
1994  Psychic: Traveler to the Unknown
1997  The Peking Man
2002  金融腐蝕列島 再生
2005  Yamato
2010  Sakurada Gate Incident

Writer:
1961  Invasion of the Neptune Men
1962  The King
1963  Tale of Army Brutality
1963  Zoku ôsho
1964  Raised in a Palace
1964  Wolves, Pigs & Men
1966  Thirst for Love
1967  Organized Violence
1967  Organized Violence II
1968  The Drifting Avenger
1969  Japan's Violent Gangs: The Boss and the Killers
1969  The Private Police
1969  Yakuza on Foot
1970  The Japan Derby Race
1970  The Last Kamikaze
1971  The Armed Organization
1971  The Gambler's Counterattack
1972  Gang Warfare
1972  Yakuza Skirmishes
1973  A True Story of the Private Ginza Police
1973  Fantasia
1973  Golgo 13
1973  Quarreling with Yakuza
1973  The Ando Gang Documentary Film
1974  Miracle on Lubang Island: Army Nakano School
1975  The Bullet Train
1976  Manhunt
1977  Proof of the Man
1978  Never Give Up
1980  Drive for the Future
1980  The Way to The Gold Medals
1982  The Go Masters
1983  Theater Of Life
1984  Kukai
1986  Lost in the Wilderness
1988  The Silk Road
1992  Hold Me and Kiss Me
1992  The Dream of Russia
1994  Psychic: Traveler to the Unknown
1997  The Peking Man
2002  金融腐蝕列島 再生
2005  Yamato
2010  Sakurada Gate Incident

Director:
1982  Gメン'82

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  • Regarding those polls wherein "franchise" movies were submitted as one project until BFI's policy changed to regard them separately, I treated them as ties and renumbered the affected lists accordingly (e.g. the Godfather films).

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Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).

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Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.