Isao Fujisawa
Isao Fujisawa was born December 17, 1941 in Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture. During his college days, he worked as an assistant director on Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes (1964) and The Face of Another (1966) before going on to work on the yakuza films of Yasuo Furuhata. After writing and directing Bye Bye Love (1974) he worked predominantly as a director on television documentaries. He has received numerous awards, including for Anna Ogino Living in Unforgivable Love and The Apple of Life, which also gained theatrical release. His latest film is the feature-length documentary film Tokyo Meoto Zenzai (2023).
A pair of star crossed platonic lovers take flight from society in Isao Fujisawa’s surrealist road trip through 70s Japan. Channelling the avant-garde spirit of the American New Wave, Bye, Bye Love establishes a dazzling universe of psychedelic poetics to narrate Utamaro and Giko’s search for freedom and liberation in the free love era. Nuanced depictions of gender fluidity and queer relationships mark it out as a seldom-seen gem of countercultural cinema