Born 1926 in Dalian, China, Sumiko Haneda graduated from Jiyu Gakuen, and joined Iwanami Productions at its founding. She has been involved in over eighty documentaries, starting with Women’s College in the Village (1957). After The Cherry Tree with Gray Blossoms (1977) she took to independent filmmaking, and has made over ten films including Ode to Mt. Hayachine (1982), How to Care for the Senile (1986), Getting Old without Anxiety (1990) and Woman Was the Sun—The Life of Hiratsuka Raicho (2001). She participated as a juror in the International Competition in YIDFF ’99.