The Naked Island

裸の島
The Naked Island
Directed by Kaneto Shindō
Produced by Kaneto Shindō
Matsuura Eisaku
Written by Kaneto Shindō
Starring Nobuko Otowa
Taiji Tonoyama
Shinji Tanaka
Masanori Horimoto
Music by Hikaru Hayashi
Cinematography Kiyomi Kuroda
Editing by Toshio Enoki
Release date(s) November 23, 1960 (1960-11-23)
Running time 96 minutes
Country Japan

The Naked Island (Japanese: 裸の島 Hadaka no shima) is a 1960 art film directed by Kaneto Shindō. The film was made in black and white, and is notable for having no spoken dialogue.

Plot synopsis

The film Hadaka No Sima depicts a small Japanese family, struggling to get by on a tiny island in the Seto Inland Sea. They are the island's only occupants, and survive by farming. They carry water for their plants and themselves in a row boat from a neighboring island.

While the parents are away from the island, the older son falls ill. The desperate father runs to find a doctor to come to treat his son, but when they arrive, the boy is already dead. After the boy's funeral, the family resumes their hard life, with very limited opportunity for grief.

Awards

In 1961, the film won the Grand Prix (in a tie with Grigori Chukhrai's Chistoye nebo) at the second Moscow International Film Festival, at which Luchino Visconti was a jury member.

In 1963 the film was nominated as best film from any source at the BAFTA Film Awards.

External links