Director, actor and television personality Takeshi “Beat” Kitano, 71, will leave film production company and agency Office Kitano, which he founded 30 years ago.
Kitano, who won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival in 1997 for Hana-bi, will quit the company that has represented him and numerous other actors and comedians, as well as producing his films, at the end of the month.
According to tabloid Sponichi Annex, Kitano is forming a new company called T. N with his business and romantic partner, with whom he lives in Tokyo despite still being married to his wife of 45 years. The two formed a similarly named company three years ago, but Kitano is reported to want to be free from the responsibility of Office Kitano.
The future of Office Kitano, which founded the Filmex film festival in Tokyo in 2000 and is still involved in managing it, will be uncertain without its star attraction.
Outrage Coda, the final film of the director’s yakuza gangster trilogy, screened out of competition in Venice last year.
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