Born in Nara, Japan, she studied at the Osaka School of Photography. Naomi made her directorial debut with Embracing (1992), a documentary short about the search for her father, who left during her youth. She also directed feature films such as Suzaku (1997), winner of the Caméra d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival; Shara (2003); The Mourning Forest (2007, 32nd Mostra), winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes; Hanezu (2011, 35th Mostra); Still the Water (2014, 38th Mostra); An (2015), winner of Audience Award to the Best Foreign Fiction at the 39th Mostra; Radiance (2017, 41st Mostra) and Vision (2018).