Dir. KUMETA Tsuyoshi (Underdogs) Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1969. Graduated from the Department of Sociology and Cultural Anthropology at Tokyo Metropolitan University. Worked as a freelance assistant director on films such as Masato Harada's "20th Century Nostalgia" (1997), Hitos
News - Chicago Japan Film Collective
Jun 14, 2023 • Subscribe
More like this
Director Spotlight #10: “Qualia”
Born in 1980, he first gained recognition as a finalist in the 1996 Junon Super Boy Contest, leading to work primarily as a model in advertising. In 2001,…
Director Spotlight #11:
Dir. SATO Yoshinori (Shinjuku Tiger) Yoshinori Sato was born in Aichi, Japan on February 1975. After graduating high school, he went to the…
Director Spotlight #12:
Dir. NISHIKORI Yoshinari (The Takatsu River) Film director and screenwriter. Born in January 1962 in Izumo, the birthplace of Kabuki, Sake and Sumo…
News - Chicago Japan Film Collective
Izumo, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: Episode 0, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life
Director Spotlight #13:
Dir. SHIOTA Akihiko (The World of You) Born in Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture in 1961, Shiota has been a regular participant in the…
Director Spotlight: Takayuki Hirao
One of the most promising young anime directors that has come on the scene during the last decade is Takayuki Hirao [平尾隆之], who first came into my…
Director Spotlight #7: “Resonance”
Dir. TANAKA Toshinori (Resonance) Born in 1981 in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima, Japan, Tanaka is a Filmmaker, a Lecturer at Fukuyama University, and the…
Director Spotlight #3: “Cafune”
Dir. KINEMURA Haruki (New Director) (Cafune) Born in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture in 2001, Japan. After enrolling in Osaka University…
Director Spotlight #2: “Backlight”
Dir. SUDO Ren (New Director) (Backlight) Born in Tokyo in 1996. While studying law at Keio University, he began working as a…
Director Spotlight: “Laugh, Everyone!”
Dir. SUZUKI Taichi鈴木太一 監督 …
Director Spotlight #1: “Angry Son”
Dir. IIZUKA Kasho (Angry Son) Born in 1990 in Gunma Prefecture. He studied under film director NEGISHI Yoshitaro and screenwriter Masato Kato while…
Director Spotlight #6: “NOT BEER”
Dir. NAKAGAWA Hirotaka (NOT BEER) Hirotaka Nakagawa was born in Aichi Prefecture and studied film production at university in Japan. He has worked…
Director Spotlight #8: “Toward Zero”
Dir. ITO Takashi (Toward Zero) ITO was born in Fukuoka in 1956. While studying in university, his experimental film SPACY(1981), premiered at MATSUMOTO…
Director Spotlight #5: “The Girls”
Born on April 20, 1984, in Tokyo, the director debuted with Dynamite Graffiti (2016), exploring Japan’s GAL culture. His next feature, Goodbye Silence (2018), depicts young people discovering…
News - Chicago Japan Film Collective
Nichijou - My Ordinary Life, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: Episode 0
Director Spotlight #9: “Twilight Cinema Blues”
Dir. JOJO Hideo (Twilight Cinema Blues) Born in 975 in Hachioji City, Tokyo. Jojo graduated from Musashino Art University and accumulated a career…
Director Spotlight #9: “Not Born Yesterday”
Born in Niigata Prefecture in 1949, FUKUMA Kenji was a widely active poet, critic, and translator. He became engrossed in cinema during middle school, influenced by directors such…
Director Spotlight #1: “99% Cloudy... Always”
SANAGOUMI Midori is an actor and voice actor who began studying filmmaking in 2020. Her short film Under the Bridge won the newly introduced Special Jury Award at…
Director Spotlight #6: “House of Sayuri”
Born on June 1, 1973, in Fukuoka Prefecture, Shiraishi made his mark on the film scene with Violent Man (1997), co-directed with Akihiro Kasai, which won the Screenplay…
Director Spotlight #2: “Bring Minyo Back!”
Born in 1982, Moriwaki began his career in advertising after graduating from Waseda University and later moved into production editing, establishing his independent career in 2011. Based in…
Director Spotlight #3: “Copo a Copo”
Born in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. After working as an assistant director for notable productions, including the TV dramas like From the North Country '98, Private Detective Mike…
Director Spotlight #7: “Leave in Summer”
Born in Hokkaido in 1996. “Tokeru” (2016) which Igashi made in college was officially selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival, Cinéfondation category. She made her theatrical debut…
Director Spotlight #5: “I Quit Being “Friends””
Dir. IMAMURA Ayako (I Quit Being “Friends”) From Nagoya／President of Studio AYA Graduated from Aichi Education University, Faculty of Education／Studied film…
Director Spotlight #4: “Hoarder on the Border”
Dir. KAYANO Hirotaka (Hoarder on the Border) Kayano graduated from the Department of Image Design, Faculty of Arts and Engineering…
Director Spotlight #8: “New Nemuro Pro Wrestling Story”
Born in 1976 in Sapporo, Hokkaido, he graduated from the Nihon University College of Art, majoring in film directing. He has directed a wide range of television programming,…
Director Spotlight: “The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes”
Dir. SANGOUMI Midori田口智久 監督 …
News - Chicago Japan Film Collective
Akudama Drive, Kino's Journey, Kino no Tabi -the Beautiful World- the Animated Series Picture Drama, Kino's Journey -the Beautiful World- the Animated Series, Digimon: Digital Monsters
Director Spotlight #11: “Till The Day I Can Laugh About My Blues”
Born in 1997, Takeda is a graduate of Tokyo Polytechnic University’s Department of Imaging Arts. Since her university days, she has worked on numerous professional and amateur film…
Director Spotlight #4: “Esper X Private Detective Agency - Searching for Good-Bye -”
Born September 1, 1973, in Tokyo and raised in Saitama, Koba is known for his unique blend of comedy, sci-fi, and fantasy. He launched his feature film career…
Introducing Spotlight!
I’m pleased to announce a new addition to the blog: Spotlight.Starting this week, every Friday, I’ll shine a spotlight on various aspects of anime, movies, books, and other…
Monthly OUT, 10/1979 – Part 2 (Interview with Director Tomino)
Picking up where we left off in this magazine, up next is a section titled Fly! Gundam featuring an interview with Director Yoshiyuki Tomino. As usual, “Q:” denotes…
VTuber Spotlight: ArsonQueen
So we’re back with another VTuber spotlight and this time I’m highlighting another creator that I’ve known for sometime ArsonQueen. This Vtuber takes great inspiration from Greek …
Vtuber Spotlight: Bellerose
Time and time again I’m left in awe at the creativity of the amazing people who allow me to write about them. Once again this journey to highlight…
Vendor Spotlight: Colorworld
It’s only natural that at some point I was going to put Colorworld on the list of vendors that I acknowledge in my vendor spotlight. Colorworld is a…
Vtuber Spotlight: KingTheKeeper
Our journey has taken us to all kinds of places. The skies, the oceans, hidden villages, mysterious forests and even to cyberspace; however, today we’re going somewhere new.…
Vtuber Spotlight: Silvilla
Once more we find ourselves in an adventure to scour the internet for more and more creators to feature. In this spotlight we turn our attentions to an…
VTuber Spotlight: Ecotone
We had the pleasure of interviewing Ecotone. Learn how they introduced themselves, and what they had to say about their streams.
Vtuber Spotlight: Vanni.exe
In order to highlight as many creators as possible I have to search far and wide on this long and amazing journey. Our adventure takes us to a…
Vtuber Spotlight: BaroqueOak
My journey so far has taken me to all kinds of places, but for today we revisit a setting that we’ve seen numerous variations of. This time we’re…
Vtuber Spotlight: pixEXE
I’ve often marveled at the creativity of the amazing people I get to talk about on this journey. We often see creators find their own unique take on…
Vtuber Spotlight: Sewerplant
Throughout this journey I’ve taken us to a wide variety of places. Cyberspace, actual space, fae lands, hidden lands, alternate dimensions and even across time. So at this…
Spotlight: Kumota Haruko
For #BLush801, I focus my spotlight on Kumota Haruko’s works and the different reasons why her adorable works are worth the journey.
Vtuber Spotlight: Red
Here we are again with another Vtuber Spotlight. The Vtuber world is a vast one with creators of all kinds inhabiting it. Today we’re focusing on a Vtuber…
Vendor Spotlight: BurntGreenTea
Here is an artist that I have been a fan of for years. BurntGreenTea is an incredible talented artist and out of the myriad of art on my…
VTuber Spotlight: Desandra
Over the course of the last several months I’ve covered Vtubers of all kinds. In that time I’ve shined the spotlight on a lot of Queens, but what…
Vtuber Spotlight: Xumerical
As our journey continues to celebrate Vtubers of all kinds we have to be able to venture into all kinds of different worlds. In this adventure we are…
Vtuber Spotlight: Naysae
In my continuous journey to support other creators I find another amazing individual who was kind enough to let me do a spotlight for her. Bluesky continues to…
Vendor Spotlight: ChibiBytes
Recently I was messaged by a vendor on Instagram who asked if I could try one of their shirts and feature them on my site. As someone who…
Vtuber Spotlight: StarlightDatura
Once again as we continue this journey we find something new in a very familiar setting. We look up to the vast world of space, in the limitless…