After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Hamaguchi worked in the film industry for a few years before entering the graduate film program at the Tokyo University of the Arts. His graduation film, Passion, screened at San Sebastian Film Festival in 2008 as well as in competition at Tokyo FILMeX. He has been constantly working on films since then, including Japan/Korea co-produced feature The Depths (2010) which screened in Tokyo FILMeX, and the series of documentaries ‘Tohoku Trilogy’ (Sound of the Waves, Voices from the Waves and Storytellers) co-directed by Ko Sakai (2011 – 2013). His Happy Hour premiered at Locarno Film Festival and won awards at numerous other film festivals. Asako I & II was selected for the competition at Cannes in 2018 and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlin in 2021. He also wrote the screenplay for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, which won the Silver Lion at Venice in 2020.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
