Directing Course
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Professor

Born in 1955. Began making 8mm movies as a university student and has directed over 40 films spanning multiple genres. His best-known titles include Cure, Charisma, Bright Future, and Pulse, which won the International Federation of Film Critics Prize at the 54th Cannes Film Festival, and Tokyo Sonata, which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. His works are highly acclaimed internationally and have been featured frequently in special programs around the world. He is the author of Eiga wa osoroshii (Movies Are Scary) and other books on cinema, and has novelized several movies.

Directing Course
Nobuhiro Suwa, Professor

Born in 1960. Became involved in independent movies while attending Tokyo Zokei University. After graduating and gaining experience in producing TV documentaries, he directed 2/Duo (1997), which won the NETPAC Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. He was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize in the Parallel Sections at Cannes Film Festival for M/Other. Other major works include H Story, Paris, je t’aime (omnibus), Un Couple Parfait, which won the Special Prize of the Jury at the Locarno International Film Festival, and Yuki & Nina. He is known for his filmmaking approach that uses loosely written scripts.

Screenwriting Course
Yuji Sakamoto, Professor

Born in 1967. Won the Fuji TV Young Scenario Award at the age of 19. At the age of 23 he wrote the screenplay for Tokyo Love Story, concentrating thereafter on writing screenplays for TV drama series. Recent works include Watashitachi no kyokasho (Our Textbook), Mother, Soredemo ikite yuku (Still, Lift Goes On), Saiko no rikon (The Greatest Divorce), Woman, Mondai no aru resutoran (A Restaurant with Many Problems), and Itsuka kono koi wo omoidashite kitto naite shimau (Love That Makes You Cry).

Screenwriting Course
Michiko Oishi, Visiting Professor

Born in Tokyo. After graduating from the Fine Art department of Tokyo University of Arts(TUA), interjecting a period as an employee, she was then enrolled in Film production of Film and New Media graduate school of TUA in 2005. There, she studied screenwriting under Yozo Tanaka and finished her course by 2007. Some of her major screenwriting films are Tokyo Rendezvous (2008, directed by Chihiro Ikeda), GeGeGe’s Wife (2010, directed by Takuji Suzuki), Drive in Gamo (2014, directed by Masaki Tamura), and an animation work To You - Letters from Hibakusha- (directed by Yuka Imabayashi). She was also the supervisor of Japanese lines for Abbas Kiarostami's film, Like Someone In Love (2012).

Producing Course
Shoji Masui, Professor

Masui started his career at Daiei Film Co., Ltd. and later established Altamira Pictures, Inc. He has produced quality entertainment films with directors like Masayuki Suo, I tsumichi Isomura and Shinobu Yaguchi. He is credited on many hit films such as Water Boys and Shall We Dance?, which was released worldwide. Masui crosses over the mainstream and independent border freely, as indicated by his involvement in many music documentary films such as Takada Wataru-teki.

Producing Course
Shozo Ichiyama, Visitiong Professor

Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan in 1963. After graduating from the Economic department of Tokyo University, he started his career by joining Shochiku. While he was placed in Office Kitano Inc., he produced a variety of films inside and outside of Japan. Some of his major producing works are; Nowhere Man (1991) directed by Naoto Takeuchi, Flowers of Shanghai (1998) directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Blackboards (2000) directed by Samira Makhmalbaf, A Touch of Sin (2013) directed by Jia Zhangke, and They Say Nothing Stays the Same (2019) directed by Joe Odagiri.
Also, he was the Program Director of TOKYO FILMeX from 2000 to 2020, and from April, 2021 he works as the Programming Director of Tokyo International Film Festival.

Cinematography Course
Sohei Tanikawa, Professor

Graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Cinema. Mainly shoots films and TV dramas. Studied in the UK as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Program for Artists and serves on the board of the Japanese Society for Cinematographers. Main works as cinematographer include director Sion Sono’s Noriko’s Dinner Table, Love Exposure, Guilty of Romance, and Himizu; director Takashi Shimizu’s Kiki’s Delivery Service; director Satoshi Miki’s Adrift in Tokyo; director Yuichi Sato’s Kasane: Beauty and Fate; and director Hideki Takeuchi’s Fly Me to the Saitama and Daughter of Lupin.

Art Directing Course
Toshihiro Isomi, Professor

Born in 1957. After graduating from university, Isomi worked in various professions before moving into stage art and direction, and eventually movies, as a set designer. His works include Hirokazu Koreeda’s Nobody Knows, Hana yorimo naho, and Even If You Walk and Walk; Sogo Ishii’s Labyrinth of Dreams and GQjoe: Spirit War Chronicle; Yoichi Sai’s Doing Time and Blood and Bones; Kazuo Kuroki’s A Boy’s Summer in 1945; Kinji and Kenta Fukasaku’s Battle Royale II; Naomi Kawase’s The Mourning Forest; Satoshi Miki’s Adrift in Tokyo; and Ryosuke Hashiguchi’s Gururi no koto.

Sound Design Course
Hiroyuki Nagashima, Professor

Nagashima’s work on the live sound remix of a movie directed by Sogo Ishii led to work on music and sound for numerous works spanning multiple media. His sound work for movies include Sogo Ishii’s Angel Dust, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Memories episode 3 – ‘Cannon Fodder’ (Taiho no machi), Shinji Aoyama’s Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani?, Kunitoshi Manda’s Seppun (The Kiss), Hiroshi Takahashi’s Kyofu (The Sylvian Experiments), and Makoto Shinozaki’s Sharing. He also performs with Dowser, an electronic music group.

Editing Course
Takefumi Tsutsui, Professor

Tsutsumi began making films while attending Tokyo Zokei University. He made his feature-length film directorial debut in 1987 with the silent movie Yumeko no daibouken. In addition to his work as a film editor and director, he has written countless film reviews. Tsutsui’s major films include Overdrive in 2004, Bahha no shozo (Bach’s Portrait) in 2010, and Kodokuna wakusei (Lonely Planet) in 2011. Recently he completed Fancy Free and Eizo no hakken=Matsumoto Toshio no jidai.

Editing Course
Ryuji Miyajima, Visiting Professor

Translator and Film Producer
Shohreh Golparian, Visiting Professor

Born in Iran. Founder and the president of Small Talk Inc.
Her first visit to Japan was in 1979, after graduating from her university. She started her career in 1982 as an ambassador secretary in the Embassy of Iran, then from 1992, she worked as a translator at NHK Bilingual Center. In the wake of Abbas Kiarostami films, she made an effort in introducing Iran films and having them screen released in Japan. Since 2003, she has been participating in collaborative works as a film producer, and she founded Small Talk Inc., the cultural company in 2011. From 2014, she joined the Busan Film Festival as an adviser. Her recent screen release was in 2020, the film Hotel New Moon (directed by Takefumi Tsutsui, one of the professors of our school), which was a collaborative work of Japan and Iran. She was awarded Foreign Minister’s Commendations of Japan in 2018, Japanese Film Pen Club’s Special Achievement Award in 2019, and The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Raysand in 2020, all for her work of promoting cultural interaction between Japan and Iran.

Filmmaker and Journalist
Karen Severns, Visiting Professor

Karen Severns has worked in New York and Tokyo as a filmmaker, critic, journalist and advertising executive. She holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University and an MS in Journalism, and has produced dozens of music/art/architecture videos and short films, including Oscar nominee One Day Crossing and Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright's Buildings and Legacy in Japan. She taught film courses for 10 years at Waseda University. She is the longtime film series curator at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, and a programmer for the New York Asian Film Festival. She is a founding partner of KiSMet Productions, a boutique film production/promotion/translation company.

Saori Takenaka, Assistant Professor

Tokuaki Minami, Lecturer

Akihiko Suzuki, Lecturer

Ryoma Hirata, Lecturer

Mukadasi Muhetaer, Assistant

Yukiko Shimizu, Assistant

Kaede Fujimoto, Assistant

Hitomi Oh, Lecturer

Masaru Natori

Naoya Hatakeyama, Professor

Born 1958 in Rikuzentakata, Iwate. Received his master’s degree from the Graduate School of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba in 1984. He is best known for his photographic studies of manmade and natural landscapes. Recipient of the 22nd Kimura Ihei Award, the 42nd Mainichi Art Award, and the 2011 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize, among others. His works are in the collections of major museums around the world including MoMA, Tate, and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. His many published photo collections include Lime Works, Underground, and Blast.

Takashi Kiriyama, Professor

Received his Doctor of Engineering from the Department of Precision Engineering, The University of Tokyo. Assumed his current position after working with Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering (RACE), Japan Science and Technology Agency, The University of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies. Fruits of his creative practice as the unit Euclid (together Professor Masahiko Sato) include Arithmetik Garden (2007), Pool of Fingerprints, The Nominal Divide (2010), and Hill of Reign (2015).

Eishi Katsura, Professor

Born 1959 in Nagasaki. Specializes in Media Studies and Library and Information Science. Received his master’s degree from the Graduate School of the University of Library and Information Science. He previously he worked as an assistant at the National Center for Science Information Systems (currently National Institute of Informatics), and as associate professor at Tokyo Zokei University. His publications include Interactive Mind, Ningen Kosai Jyutsu, and Mythology of Tokyo Disneyland. He is also involved in the planning of new public cultural facilities both in Japan and abroad.

Akira Takayama, Professor

Theater director, born 1969. Founder-director of the theater collective Port B. Takayama’s activities have expanded beyond the theater setting to encompass actual cities and communities, including installations and tour performances making use of urban locations. Recently, he has collaborated with practitioners in a number of different fields including art, tourism and urban-projects, expanding the possibilities of various genres with his theatrical ideas and concepts.

Hiroyuki Hattori Associate Professor

Curator. Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1978 and based in Aichi and Akita. Completed graduate school in architecture at Waseda University in 2006. Involved in diverse creative practices with artists and creators as art center curator, freelancer, and art school faculty member. Also develops projects with other creators and investigates the artistic practices of contemporaries in Asia. Cosmo-Eggs was exhibited in the Japan Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia in 2019.

Shintaro Wada, Assistant Professor

Shunsuke Takamizawa, Assistant

Misako Tago, Assistant

Akifumi Toishi,Assistant

2D Animation Course
Koji Yamamura, Professor

Born in 1964. Produced animated films for children such as Pacusi and Bavel’s Book in the 1990s. Mt.Head (2002) was nominated for the 75th Academy Award, received the grand prize at Annecy, Zagreb and six other film festivals, and was named one of the “100 Works of the 21st Century”; Franz Kafka’s “A Country Doctor” (2007) won the grand prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and seven other film festivals. He also illustrates children’s books, including Oyaoya Oyasai and Parade. He was recipient of the 30th Kawakita Award. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, executive board member of the Japanese chapter of the International Animated Film Association, and vice chairman of the Japan Animation Association.

3D Animation Course
Yuichi Ito, Professor

Animation director. Born in 1962. After working with the visual effects studio Shirogumi, and in computer graphics production, in 1998 he launched the animation studio I.TOON Ltd. and currently serves as its president. His many projects integrating multiple (mainly 3D) animation techniques include KNYACK!! (NHK Educational TV), broadcast for more than 20 years; Harbor Tale (2011), winner of Best Animated Film at the Zlin Film Festival (Czech Republic); the television commercial for Kao Kyukyutt o, and the animation software Claytown, which he co-supervised. He is on the board of directors of Japan Animation Association, and a member of ASIFA-JAPAN.

Producing Course
Mitsuko Okamoto, Professor

Former producer for NHK. From 2000, she planned and produced the TV program Digital Stadium, considered a gateway to success for budding film creators, and the event Digital Art Festival (DAF) Tokyo; from 2010, the series 2355 and 0655, both broadcast weekdays on NHK Educational TV, in collaboration with Professor Masahiko Sato of this graduate school; and from 2012, TECHNE: The Visual Workshop for Studying Filmmaking.

Research and Theory Course
Taruto Fuyama, Professor

Ph.D. Began producing 3DCG animation in the 1990s. Since 2003 he has been developing devices for producing animation and holding interactive exhibitions and workshops at museums both in Japan and abroad. KOMA KOMA, his stop motion animation app, has had over 1,000,000 downloads worldwide. His practical research include the creation of personnel development programs through academic-industry collaborations and the application of animation in the field of mental health. He is a Vice President of the Japan Society for Animation Studies.

Research and Theory Course
Nahomi Maki, Lecturer

Maki began creating animation in the 2000s and earned a PhD in film studies in 2017. She joined this faculty after working in a film production studio in the US and undertaking academic research. She has created 2D and 3DCG animation, and in recent years has expanded her activities into full-dome film, VR production and research. Screenings of her work include the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival, Annecy Animation Film Festival 2009, 11th Fulldome Film Festival (Germany), and SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 VR Showcase.

Ilan Nguyen, Associate Professor

Asako Eguchi, Assistant Professor

Sayaka Omodaka, Assistant Professor

Yuichi Matsumoto, Assistant Professor（Game Course）

Takayuki Oguchi, Lecturer

Sunao Katabuchi, Lecturer

Yuichi Kishino, Lecturer

Hiroshi Takayama, Lecturer

Akiko Kimura, Lecturer

Ninomiya Ryo, Assistant

Kohei Saito,Assistant

Harune Sato,Assistant

Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Professor

Born in 1955. Began making 8mm movies as a university student and has directed over 40 films spanning multiple genres. His best-known titles include Cure, Charisma, Bright Future, and Pulse, which won the International Federation of Film Critics Prize at the 54th Cannes Film Festival, and Tokyo Sonata, which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. His works are highly acclaimed internationally and have been featured frequently in special programs around the world. He is the author of Eiga wa osoroshii (Movies Are Scary) and other books on cinema, and has novelized several movies.

Nobuhiro Suwa, Professor

Born in 1960. Became involved in independent movies while attending Tokyo Zokei University. After graduating and gaining experience in producing TV documentaries, he directed 2/Duo (1997), which won the NETPAC Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. He was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize in the Parallel Sections at Cannes Film Festival for M/Other. Other major works include H Story, Paris, je t’aime (omnibus), Un Couple Parfait, which won the Special Prize of the Jury at the Locarno International Film Festival, and Yuki & Nina. He is known for his filmmaking approach that uses loosely written scripts.

Yuji Sakamoto, Professor

Born in 1967. Won the Fuji TV Young Scenario Award at the age of 19. At the age of 23 he wrote the screenplay for Tokyo Love Story, concentrating thereafter on writing screenplays for TV drama series. Recent works include Watashitachi no kyokasho (Our Textbook), Mother, Soredemo ikite yuku (Still, Lift Goes On), Saiko no rikon (The Greatest Divorce), Woman, Mondai no aru resutoran (A Restaurant with Many Problems), and Itsuka kono koi wo omoidashite kitto naite shimau (Love That Makes You Cry).

Shoji Masui, Professor

Masui started his career at Daiei Film Co., Ltd. and later established Altamira Pictures, Inc. He has produced quality entertainment films with directors like Masayuki Suo, I tsumichi Isomura and Shinobu Yaguchi. He is credited on many hit films such as Water Boys and Shall We Dance?, which was released worldwide. Masui crosses over the mainstream and independent border freely, as indicated by his involvement in many music documentary films such as Takada Wataru-teki.

Toshihiro Isomi, Professor

Born in 1957. After graduating from university, Isomi worked in various professions before moving into stage art and direction, and eventually movies, as a set designer. His works include Hirokazu Koreeda’s Nobody Knows, Hana yorimo naho, and Even If You Walk and Walk; Sogo Ishii’s Labyrinth of Dreams and GQjoe: Spirit War Chronicle; Yoichi Sai’s Doing Time and Blood and Bones; Kazuo Kuroki’s A Boy’s Summer in 1945; Kinji and Kenta Fukasaku’s Battle Royale II; Naomi Kawase’s The Mourning Forest; Satoshi Miki’s Adrift in Tokyo; and Ryosuke Hashiguchi’s Gururi no koto.

Hiroyuki Nagashima, Professor

Nagashima’s work on the live sound remix of a movie directed by Sogo Ishii led to work on music and sound for numerous works spanning multiple media. His sound work for movies include Sogo Ishii’s Angel Dust, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Memories episode 3 – ‘Cannon Fodder’ (Taiho no machi), Shinji Aoyama’s Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani?, Kunitoshi Manda’s Seppun (The Kiss), Hiroshi Takahashi’s Kyofu (The Sylvian Experiments), and Makoto Shinozaki’s Sharing. He also performs with Dowser, an electronic music group.

Takefumi Tsutsui, Professor

Tsutsumi began making films while attending Tokyo Zokei University. He made his feature-length film directorial debut in 1987 with the silent movie Yumeko no daibouken. In addition to his work as a film editor and director, he has written countless film reviews. Tsutsui’s major films include Overdrive in 2004, Bahha no shozo (Bach’s Portrait) in 2010, and Kodokuna wakusei (Lonely Planet) in 2011. Recently he completed Fancy Free and Eizo no hakken=Matsumoto Toshio no jidai.

Sohei Tanikawa, Professor

Graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Cinema. Mainly shoots films and TV dramas. Studied in the UK as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Program for Artists and serves on the board of the Japanese Society for Cinematographers. Main works as cinematographer include director Sion Sono’s Noriko’s Dinner Table, Love Exposure, Guilty of Romance, and Himizu; director Takashi Shimizu’s Kiki’s Delivery Service; director Satoshi Miki’s Adrift in Tokyo; director Yuichi Sato’s Kasane: Beauty and Fate; and director Hideki Takeuchi’s Fly Me to the Saitama and Daughter of Lupin.

Naoya Hatakeyama, Professor

Born 1958 in Rikuzentakata, Iwate. Received his master’s degree from the Graduate School of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba in 1984. He is best known for his photographic studies of manmade and natural landscapes. Recipient of the 22nd Kimura Ihei Award, the 42nd Mainichi Art Award, and the 2011 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize, among others. His works are in the collections of major museums around the world including MoMA, Tate, and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. His many published photo collections include Lime Works, Underground, and Blast.

Takashi Kiriyama, Professor

Received his Doctor of Engineering from the Department of Precision Engineering, The University of Tokyo. Assumed his current position after working with Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering (RACE), Japan Science and Technology Agency, The University of Tokyo Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies. Fruits of his creative practice as the unit Euclid (together Professor Masahiko Sato) include Arithmetik Garden (2007), Pool of Fingerprints, The Nominal Divide (2010), and Hill of Reign (2015).

Eishi Katsura, Professor

Born 1959 in Nagasaki. Specializes in Media Studies and Library and Information Science. Received his master’s degree from the Graduate School of the University of Library and Information Science. He previously he worked as an assistant at the National Center for Science Information Systems (currently National Institute of Informatics), and as associate professor at Tokyo Zokei University. His publications include Interactive Mind, Ningen Kosai Jyutsu, and Mythology of Tokyo Disneyland. He is also involved in the planning of new public cultural facilities both in Japan and abroad.

Akira Takayama, Professor

Theater director, born 1969. Founder-director of the theater collective Port B. Takayama’s activities have expanded beyond the theater setting to encompass actual cities and communities, including installations and tour performances making use of urban locations. Recently, he has collaborated with practitioners in a number of different fields including art, tourism and urban-projects, expanding the possibilities of various genres with his theatrical ideas and concepts.

Hiroyuki Hattori Associate Professor

Curator. Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1978 and based in Aichi and Akita. Completed graduate school in architecture at Waseda University in 2006. Involved in diverse creative practices with artists and creators as art center curator, freelancer, and art school faculty member. Also develops projects with other creators and investigates the artistic practices of contemporaries in Asia. Cosmo-Eggs was exhibited in the Japan Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia in 2019.

Koji Yamamura, Professor

Born in 1964. Produced animated films for children such as Pacusi and Bavel’s Book in the 1990s. Mt.Head (2002) was nominated for the 75th Academy Award, received the grand prize at Annecy, Zagreb and six other film festivals, and was named one of the “100 Works of the 21st Century”; Franz Kafka’s “A Country Doctor” (2007) won the grand prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and seven other film festivals. He also illustrates children’s books, including Oyaoya Oyasai and Parade. He was recipient of the 30th Kawakita Award. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, executive board member of the Japanese chapter of the International Animated Film Association, and vice chairman of the Japan Animation Association.

Yuichi Ito, Professor

Animation director. Born in 1962. After working with the visual effects studio Shirogumi, and in computer graphics production, in 1998 he launched the animation studio I.TOON Ltd. and currently serves as its president. His many projects integrating multiple (mainly 3D) animation techniques include KNYACK!! (NHK Educational TV), broadcast for more than 20 years; Harbor Tale (2011), winner of Best Animated Film at the Zlin Film Festival (Czech Republic); the television commercial for Kao Kyukyutt o, and the animation software Claytown, which he co-supervised. He is on the board of directors of Japan Animation Association, and a member of ASIFA-JAPAN.

Mitsuko Okamoto, Professor

Former producer for NHK. From 2000, she planned and produced the TV program Digital Stadium, considered a gateway to success for budding film creators, and the event Digital Art Festival (DAF) Tokyo; from 2010, the series 2355 and 0655, both broadcast weekdays on NHK Educational TV, in collaboration with Professor Masahiko Sato of this graduate school; and from 2012, TECHNE: The Visual Workshop for Studying Filmmaking.

Taruto Fuyama, Professor

Ph.D. Began producing 3DCG animation in the 1990s. Since 2003 he has been developing devices for producing animation and holding interactive exhibitions and workshops at museums both in Japan and abroad. KOMA KOMA, his stop motion animation app, has had over 1,000,000 downloads worldwide. His practical research include the creation of personnel development programs through academic-industry collaborations and the application of animation in the field of mental health. He is a Vice President of the Japan Society for Animation Studies.

University of Southern California
Lippit Akira Mizuta, Distinguished Professor (2015-)

University of Southern California
Sofian Sieila, Distinguished Professor (2015-2016)

University of Southern California
Hanson Eric, Distinguished Professor (2015-2016)

University of Southern California
Michael Patterson, Distinguished Professor (2015-2016)

University of Southern California
Reckinger Candace, Distinguished Professor (2015-2016)

University of Southern California
Kratky Andreas, Distinguished Professor (2016-)

FEMIS
GLENN Pierre William, Distinguished Professor (2016-2017)

University of Southern California
Fink Michael, Distinguished Professor (2016-2017)

University of Southern California
Hollyn Norman, Distinguished Professor (2016-2019)

University of Southern California
Lemarchand Richard, Distinguished Professor (2017-2018)

FEMIS
Dedet Yann, Distinguished Professor (2017-2018)

FEMIS
Comets Jacque, Distinguished Professor (2018-2019)

FEMIS
CAUVIN Brice,Pierre,Henri, Distinguished Professor (2018-2019)

University of Southern California
Peter Brinson, Distinguished Professor (2019-)

Yukari Shina, Lecturer

Ryuta Miyake, Lecturer

Karen Severns, Visiting Professor