Known more as a cinematographer throughout the 1940s to the 1960s in Japan, Kimio Watanabe (1918–1983) has a decorated career in film. One of his productions, The White Heron, was screened and nominated for the Palme d’Or in the 1959 Cannes Film Festival. Watanabe also lent his skills to Kon Ichikawa – the director of Tokyo Olympiad – in his classic Bridge of Japan.
