Yoshio Kitagawa

Yoshio Kitagawa is a Japanese cinematographer working across narrative cinema, documentary and international productions, with an expanding practice in still photography. His work is grounded in close observation of people and place, with particular attention to natural light, duration, movement, and the distance between camera and subject. After completing an MA in Film at Tokyo University of the Arts, he began his career as a camera assistant before establishing himself as a director of photography. His longstanding collaboration with Ryusuke Hamaguchi includes Intimacies, Happy Hour, Evil Does Not Exist, GIFT and Soudain (All of a Sudden). For Evil Does Not Exist, Kitagawa developed a restrained natural-light approach in which forest, snow, water and interior light become part of the film’s dramatic rhythm. The work received the 68th JSC Miura Award. Alongside cinema, he continues a personal practice in still photography; in 2026 he presented Meeting Our Paths, a two-person exhibition with Yuko Kitagawa in Kamakura.