Nagisa Oshima was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His films include In the Realm of the Senses (1976), a sexually explicit film set in 1930's Japan, and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), about Japanese WW2 prisoners of war.

Nagisa Oshima's career extends from the initiation of the "Nuberu bagu" (New Wave) movement in Japanese cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to the contemporary use of cinema and television to express paradoxes in modern society. After an early involvement with the student protest movement in Kyoto, Oshima rose rapidly in the Shochiku company from the status of apprentice, in 1954, to that of director. By 1960, he had grown disillusioned with the traditional studio production policies and broke away from Shochiku to form his own independent production company, Sozosha, in 1965. With other Japanese New Wave filmmakers, like Masahiro Shinoda, Shôhei Imamura and Yoshishige Yoshida, Oshima reacted against the humanistic style and subject matter of directors like Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa, as well as against established left-wing political movements. Oshima has been primarily concerned with depicting the contradictions and tensions of postwar Japanese society. His films tend to expose contemporary Japanese materialism, while also examining what it means to be Japanese in the face of rapid industrialization and Westernization.

Awards:

Blue Ribbon Awards
- 1961 Night and Fog in Japan & Cruel Story of Youth – Best New Director
- 2000 Taboo – Best Director & Best Film

Cannes Film Festival
- 1978 Empire of Passion – Best Director (Prix de la mise en scène)

Kinema Junpo Awards
- 1969 Death by Hanging – Best Screenplay
- 1972 The Ceremony – Best Director, Best Film & Best Screenplay
- 1984 Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence – Readers' Choice Award for Best Film Edit Biography