Kuroki Kazuo was born on November 10, 1930 in Matsuzaka, Mie, Japan. He attended Doshisha University, but left before graduating, instead finding employment at Iwanami Productions (Iwanami Eiga). There he directed PR films and documentary films, while also participating in the "Blue Group" (Ao no kai) with other Iwanami filmmakers such as Tsuchimoto Noriaki, Ogawa Shinsuke, and Higashi Yōichi, a group that was exploring new paths in documentary. Kuroki left Iwanami after experiencing conflicts with the sponsors of his "Hokkaido, My Love" (1960), and it was his "Record of a Marathon Runner" (1964) that helped spark changes in the Japanese documentary world.

Kuroki switched to fiction film, independently producing "Silence Has No Wings" (1966) and showing it at the Art Theatre Guild. He became one of the representative figures of ATG and independent Japanese cinema, and was particularly known for a series of works dealing with the atomic bombings of Japan, such as "Tomorrow" (1988) and "The Face of Jizo" (2004). These were in part spurred by his growing up near the city of Nagasaki. Kuroki's work also dealt with his own feelings of guilt from the war, as he felt responsible when some of his fellow students, who had been conscripted to work in a local factory, died in Allied bombings and he did not help.

Kuroki won the best director award at the 2004 Mainichi Film Awards for "The Face of Jizo" and "Utsukushii natsu Kirishima (2004)". He died on 12 April 2006 due to cerebral infarction.

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