Japanese filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu received the Singapore International Film Festival’s Cinema Honorary Award during an onstage conversation at the festival. The award, presented at the National Museum of Singapore, recognizes significant contributions to Asian cinema and ranks as the festival’s highest honor.
During the discussion, Kore-eda explained his distinctive approach to working with child actors. He stated that he has deliberately chosen never to film children crying, emphasizing that this represents a conscious artistic decision rather than a technical limitation. He aims for viewers to retain memories of a child’s smile rather than tears. Kore-eda described how his methods have evolved across different projects. For films including “Shoplifters,” “The Truth,” and “Broker,” he avoided providing scripts to child performers, instead adapting dialogue based on each child’s natural speech patterns and vocabulary discovered during auditions. For “Monster,” he determined that the film’s sensitive subject matter warranted providing scripts to distance young actors from their roles. He now tailors his approach individually for each child and production.
Kore-eda identified two filmmakers as major influences on his directorial philosophy. Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien demonstrated a technique of joining children during scenes, then quietly withdrawing once filming begins to allow natural play to continue—a method Kore-eda has adopted. British filmmaker Ken Loach provided crucial ethical guidance when they met approximately 20 years ago during the production of “Nobody Knows.” Loach described how he achieved an emotionally authentic reaction from a young actor in “Kes” by simply instructing the child to search for a missing bird, trusting their relationship could address any potential harm.
Kore-eda emphasized his commitment to maintaining positive working conditions for child performers, stating he never displays anger, rushes them, or employs deception. He recounted an audition for “Like Father, Like Son” where a child answered every question with “Why?”—a characteristic trait he ultimately incorporated into the character. Regarding his recent work, Kore-eda characterized his current films “Sheep in the Box” and “Look Back” as returns to his foundational filmmaking principles, focusing on grief and documentary-style observation respectively.
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