Michiyo Yoshizaki

Michiyo Yoshizaki began her career in the film industry as the distributor of internationally acclaimed films such as Cinema Paradiso (dir. Giuseppe Tornatore) and cementing her reputation in the worldwide film industry by being awarded Best Distributor in Japan. While working as a distributor she made a package deal for Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence starring David Bowie. She was also the producer of the hugely successful Italian film The Last Concert, which was the cause of a social phenomenon in Japan. Michiyo was then involved in setting up the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), now the biggest Asian Film Festival; for which she also worked as a director of selection. In 1991, Michiyo founded NDF Incorporated in Japan with ten leading Japanese companies as shareholders. Two of the first films co-financed and executively produced by NDF were critical and commercial hits. Howards End, starring Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, received 9 Oscar nominations. Another was The Crying Game, about a British soldier kidnapped by the IRA in Northern Ireland. The film went on to take in $63 million at the US box office and prove a worldwide box office hit, also providing Boy George with a notable soundtrack success with the title song. NDF has in total received 17 Oscar nominations and many other festival awards at Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Toronto. In 1995 Michiyo Yoshizaki set up NDF International Ltd. in the United Kingdom. NDF International co-produced and executively produced such acclaimed films as Basquiat, Chinese Box, Titus and Wilde. Michiyo Yoshizaki has been described as one of the top 100 most powerful people in the world film industry and she continues to be involved in multinational co-productions, using her wide network of connections. Recently, she has also been a member of the jury for the BIFA Awards and is on the BIFA Committee to help strengthen the United Kingdom’s Independent Film Industry.