artists

足立正生 ADACHI Masao

ADACHI Masao

Born in 1939 in Kita Kyushu, Fukuoka, Japan. While still a student at Nihon University College of Art, Adachi was thrust into the limelight with his film Closed Vagina (1963). As well as working on director Koji Wakamatsu’s independent films, churning out scripts for “pink films,” he made films of his own like Galaxy (1967) and A.K.A. Serial Killer (1969). After co-directing Red Army/PLFP: Declaration of World War (1971) with Wakamatsu, Adachi left Japan for Lebanon in 1974 and threw himself into supporting the cause of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Film releases following his deportation back to Japan in 2001 include Prisoner/Terrorist (2007) and Artist of Fasting (2016). There have been a number of special screenings of Adachi’s work by the Cinémathèque Française, the Harvard Film Archive and The International Film Festival Rotterdam, among others.