Known for Directing
Shinya Tsukamoto is a Japanese film director and actor with a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad.
Born
January 1, 1960 (age 66)
Birthplace
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Filmography
229 films, 12 shows


Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?
2026 · 1h 56m · JP
Vietnam veteran Allen Nelson returns with severe PTSD, winding up on the streets before crossing paths with Dr. Daniels of the Veterans Affairs who sets about trying to help him.


Shadow of Fire
2023 · 1h 35m · JP
In the black market, a war orphan is confronted with the struggles of people living in the immediate aftermath of WWII.


Killing
2018 · 1h 20m · JP
In mid-19th century Edo period, a masterless rōnin named Mokunoshin Tsuzuki resides in a peaceful village among those he helps. However, as the prevalent peace and tranquility are sure to be replaced by war and conflict across the land, the swordsman feels restlessness creeping upon him.


Shinya Tsukamoto Commentary "Fires on the Plain" 20 Year Journey
2018 · 59m
Shinya Tsukamoto recalls the development of his adaptation of 'Fires on the Plain' by Shohei Ooka


Fires on the Plain
2015 · 1h 27m · JP
In the final days of World War II, occupying Japanese forces in the Philippines face resistance from the local population and the American offensive. The dwindling Japanese soldiers attempt to survive through the horrors of war.


Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013 · 2h · IT
Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.


Kotoko
2011 · 1h 31m · JP
When a single mother suffers a nervous breakdown, she is suspected of child abuse and her child is taken away. Her mental suffering escalates as she succumbs to her darkest fantasies.


Ca' Foscari Cinema
2011 · 1m · IT
Shinya Tsukamoto's animated promo for the Ca' Foscari Cinema in Venice.


Kaidan Horror Classics
2010 · 2h 40m · JP
Four short films based on ghost stories written by award winning modern Japanese writers.


Tetsuo: The Bullet Man
2010 · 1h 11m · JP
When the son of an American man and a Japanese woman is killed in a car crash, the man transforms into a rageful metallic being thirsty of blood and vengeance.


Lizard
2009 · 50m · JP
Ryo reads a short story written by Banana Yoshimoto.


Nightmare Detective 2
2008 · 1h 42m · JP
A story of the unexplainable things that inflict sheer terror on human beings and how they leave victims psychologically devastated.


Nightmare Detective
2007 · 1h 45m · JP
When a number of suicide victims slash themselves in their sleep, detective Keiko Kirishima is called to investigate.


Female
2005 · 1h 58m · JP
'Female' is comprised of five short films adapted from five novels by female authors. Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Tetsuo Shinohara, Ryuichi Hiroki, Miwa Nishikawa, and Suzuki Matsuo.


Haze
2005 · 49m · JP
A man awakes to find himself trapped in a dirty, confined crawlspace. He barely has enough room to move. He also has no memory of why he's there, or why he's bleeding from a stomach wound. Apparently drugged, he occasionally 'zones out' of his surroundings as he tries to edge towards his way to freedom. But the more he explores, the more pain he has to endure, and the more frightening his predicament becomes.
The Desire of the World: Jeonju Digital Project 2005
The Desire of the World: Jeonju Digital Project 2005
2005
Three digital short films: 'Worldly Desires' by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 'Haze' by Tsukamoto Shinya, 'Magician(s)' by Song Il-Gon


Vital
2004 · 1h 26m · JP
A young man awakens in the hospital after an accident wipes his memory. Fascinated by a textbook full of drawings of dissections, Hiroshi is drawn to medical school. There he catches the eye of a fellow student, but it's another who becomes his obsession: the dead woman on the cadaver table.


A Snake of June
2003 · 1h 17m · JP
Rinko, a woman in a sexless marriage, is blackmailed by a stalker with intimate photos, forcing her into a series of erotic acts that disrupt her mundane life.


Gemini
1999 · 1h 24m · JP
When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.


Bullet Ballet
1998 · 1h 27m · JP
After his girlfriend commits suicide, a man becomes embroiled in gang warfare attempting to obtain a gun in hopes to kill himself.


Tokyo Fist
1995 · 1h 27m · JP
A businessman, Tsuda, runs into a childhood friend, Kojima, on the subway. Kojima is working as a semiprofessional boxer. Tsuda soon begins to suspect that Kojima might be having an affair with his fiancée Hizuru. After an altercation, Tsuda begins training rigorously himself, leading to an extremely bloody, violent confrontation.


Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
1992 · 1h 21m · JP
A Japanese salaryman finds his body transforming into a weapon through sheer rage after his son is kidnapped by a gang of violent thugs.


Hiruko the Goblin
1991 · 1h 29m · JP
A school was built on one of the Gates of Hell, behind which hordes of demons await the moment they will be free to roam the Earth. Hiruko is a goblin sent to Earth on a reconnaissance mission. He beheads students in order to assemble their heads on the demons' spider-like bodies. Hieda, an archaeology professor, and Masao, a haunted student, investigate the gory deaths.


Tetsuo: The Iron Man
1989 · 1h 7m · JP
A "metal fetishist", driven mad by the maggots wriggling in the wound he's made to embed metal into his flesh, runs out into the night and is accidentally run down by a Japanese businessman and his girlfriend. The pair dispose of the corpse in hopes of quietly moving on with their lives. However, the businessman soon finds that he is now plagued by a vicious curse that transforms his flesh into iron.


The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo
1987 · 47m · JP
A teenager discovers an electric pylon growing out of his back and is soon forced to battle cyborg vampires over the future of humanity.


The Phantom of Regular Size
1986 · 18m · JP
A short film where Shinya Tsukamoto experimented with effects and ideas, which eventually resulted in the feature film Tetsuo: The Iron Man.


Terry 100 Channels
1985 · 28m · JP
Through a series of obscene animations, the work of iconoclast animator Teruhiko "King Terry" Yumura lampoons a range of cultural icons and taboos: California bodybuilding culture, onanism, hyperviolent cinema, marital bliss, and more. Soundtracked entirely by American funk/soul, each short matches the inherent depravity of its subject matter with an equally crude style, from fake commercials to slice-of-life stories and pornographic picaresques.


Lotus Flower, Fly!
1979 · 1h 30m · JP


New Wings
1978 · 40m · JP


Flying in a Hell Town Piss Lodge
1977 · 2h · JP
Early 8mm student film. Selected for the 1977 Japan Recording Video Festival (sponsored by Nippon Television)


Cloudy
1976 · 1h · JP
Early B+W student film.
Wings
Wings
1975 · 25m · JP
Early 8mm student film. Selected for the 1975 Japan Recording Video Festival (sponsored by Nippon Television)
Story of a Giant Cockroach
Story of a Giant Cockroach
1975 · 50m · JP
Super-8 film.


Genshi-san
1974 · 10m · JP
A giant prehistoric man destroys some cities. Early Super-8 Tsukamoto short film. Loosely based on a short Shigeru Mizuki story.