Matagi (film)

Matagi (Japanese: マタギ), known in English as The Old Bear Hunter, is a 1982 Japanese docufiction drama film directed by Toshio Gotō and co-written by Gotō with Atsushi Yamatoya. It was Gotō's second film as a director, following Komugīro no tenshi suzume to shōnen. The film depicts the story of a Matagi who sets out to hunt the giant bear that scarred him years earlier. It stars Kō Nishimura in the lead role, in addition to Yoshito Anpo, Yoshio Inaba, Goichi Yamada and Yue Hayashi. The score was composed by Kentarō Haneda. Matagi was theatrically released by SEIDO Productions and Daiei Film on January 25, 1982, in Japan. The film was shown at the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival, where it was an honorable mention for the UNICEF Award. Gotō would later direct a spiritual successor to Matagi, known as Itazu Kuma (1987).