Yōichi Sai (born 6 July 1949 in Nagano Prefecture, Japan) was a Japanese film director. His mother is Japanese, His father is zainichi Korean. His 2004 film Chi to hone won four Japanese Academy Awards, including two for Sai himself, for Best Director and Best Screenplay. He had previously received two nominations in the same categories for Tsuki wa dotchi ni dete iru. In 1999 he shot Buta no mukui (The Pig's Retribution), a film set in the lavish natural scenery of Okinawa, inspired by the 1996 Akutagawa Prize-winning eponymous novel by Eiki Matayoshi. The film won the Don Quixote prize at Locarno International Film Festival in 1999. He won the award for Best Screenplay at the 11th Yokohama Film Festival for A Sign Days. As an actor, he appeared in Nagisa Oshima's 1999 film Taboo. He is the current president of the Directors Guild of Japan.   

Filmography

• 2022CLUB DEJA-VU ONE NIGHT SHOW 松田優作・メモリアル・ライブ — Director
• 2022優作について私が知っている二、三の事柄 — Director
• 2009Kamui — Director, Screenplay
• 2008The Short Films: We Were All Once Children — Director
• 2007Soo — Director, Writer
• 2006Route 225
• 2004Blood and Bones — Director, Screenplay
• 2004Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog — Director
• 2002Doing Time — Director, Writer
• 1999Taboo — Isami Kondo
• 1999The Pig's Retribution — Director, Screenplay
• 1998Dog Race — Director, Writer
• 1995Heisei Irresponsible Family: Tokyo de Luxe — Director, Screenplay
• 1995MARKS — Screenplay, Director
• 1995The Stairway to the Distant Past — Chief of Police
• 1994N45゜ — Bearded man
• 1993All Under the Moon — Section Chief, Director, Screenplay
• 1991Burning Dog — Director
• 1989Via Okinawa — Director
• 1988The Glorious Asuka Gang! — Director, Screenplay
• 1987The Lady in a Black Dress — Director
• 1986Love Story — Director
• 1985Let Him Rest in Peace — Director
• 1984Someday, Someone Will Be Killed — Director
• 1983Dansen — Director
• 1983Sexual Crime — Director
• 1983The Mosquito on the Tenth Floor — Director, Writer
• Pro Hunter — Director
• 1980The Night of Martial Law — Assistant Director
• 1980不良少年 — Assistant Director
• 1979No Grave for Us — Assistant Director
• 1978The Killing Game — Assistant Director
• 1978The Most Dangerous Game — Assistant Director
• 1977Kitamura Tokoku: My Winter Song — Assistant Director
• 1976Bastard on the Border — Producer
• 1976In the Realm of the Senses — Assistant Director
• 1975Kokuhatsu Zainichi kankokujin seijihan report — First Assistant Director

Appearances as themselves (2)

• 2003In the Realm of the Senses: Recalling the Film — Self - Interviewee
• Empire of Passion: On the Set — Self (Assistant Director for "Empire of Passion")