President of Jury

Jiro Shindo (Japan)

Film Producer

Born in 1949 in Kanagawa Prefecture. Graduated from the Department of Photography, Nihon University, College of Art in 1971. Shindo worked on sets for independent films as a photographer of still pictures while attending college. Starting in 1979, he worked on the TV series “Oedo Sosamo” as a producer for Mifune Productions. He joined KINDAI EIGA KYOKAI in 1986 and produced Black Board. Since then, he has produced many films such as A Last Note (1995) and Post Card (2011), for which he received the Fujimoto Award.

 

Jury Members

Satoru Tabei (Japan)

Marketing Manager, Tokyo Theatres co., Inc

Joining TOKYO THEATRES in 1986, Tabei worked in theaters and then in the publicity dept. He later moved to CIC Victor and did marketing for Universal and Paramount films. Then he joined United Cinema as director of marketing. He opened eight movie complexes and IMAX theaters. He also devoted himself to the production of local movies and launched “Cinema Plot Competition”, which is a project to provide opportunities to young creators. In 2013, he moved back to TOKYO THEATRES as head of the Marketing Department.

 

Catherine Dussart (France)

Film Producer

After studying management, Dussart entered the film industry, and worked actively as a publicist. In 1994, she founded a film production company called CDP. She has produced an array of short films, features, documentaries and television programs that won a host of prizes at international film festivals. She produced The Missing Picture by Rithy Panh, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2014 Academy Awards and received the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival; Goltzius by Peter Greenaway, which was screened at the 2013 Rome Film Festival; and Araf by Yesim Ustaoglu, which was selected to screen at the 2012 Venice Film Festival and competed at the 2012 Tokyo Film Festival.

 

James Liu (Taiwan)

President, Joint Entertainment International Inc.

Liu has been working in various sections of the film business since his graduation from Columbia College Chicago with a film production master’s degree in 1989. In 2000 he returned to school to earn an MBA and in 2005 started up Joint Entertainment, a distribution and production company focused on independent films. Since then, he has produced a few documentary and feature films, including The Land of Hope by Sion Sono as a co-producer. He has also been assisting Taiwanese independent filmmakers to explore the international market. In 2008, in an unprecedented move, Joint collaborated with SPO, a Japanese company, to launch Taiwan Film Collections in Japan.

 

President of Jury

Shoji Masui (Japan)

Film Producer

While working as a producer at Daiei, Masui produced Fancy Dance (1989), and Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t (1992). In 1993, Masui founded Altamira Pictures with Masayuki Suo and Itsumichi Isomura. Since then, he has produced Shall We Dance? (1996), Give It All (1998), Waterboys (2001), Swing Girls (2004), I Just Didn’t Do It (2007), Happy Flight (2008), Robo-G (2012), A Terminal Trust (2012) as well as documentaries such as Takada Wataru Teki (2004), Komadori Shimai ga Yattekuru (2009), Osu! Batayan (2013). His new film Lady Maiko by Masayuki Suo was shot on an outdoor set at SKIP City and will be released this fall. Masui teaches at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts as a professor.

 

Jury Members

Noriyasu Hirakata (Japan)

Producer

Born in 1955 in Gunma Prefecture. While attending Nihon University, College of Arts, Hirakata started working freelance on film production and screening. He joined KINDAI EIGA KYOKAI in 1978. He produced films directed by Kaneto Shindo as well as TV documentaries such as “NHK Special” and “ETV Special”. He established Pictures Network in 1999 and produced more than 900 programs. His production work includes Capturing Dad (2012), The Warship That Walked on Land (2007), for which he received the Newcomer Prize of Fujimoto Award, and By Player (2000).

 

Yuko Shiomaki (Japan)

President, Pictures dept. co. ltd.

Shiomaki joined Kuzui Enterprise in the mid-90's, then joined the Film Division at PARCO, before becoming CEO of the boutique production company Stylejam in 2005, where she is in charge of acquisitions and sales, and actively showcases Japan's talents to the wider world, incl. Shinji Aoyama's Sad Vacation, and Satoshi Miki's Adrift in Tokyo. In 2009, she founded pictures dept., produced Shinji Aoyama's Decadent Sisters, received the Pusan PPP Award in 2009 and entered Cannes's L'Atelier. She has produced The Land of Hope by Sion Sono, awarded the NETPAC Best Asian Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival 2012, while Sono's Guilty of Romance (2011) was selected to the Cannes Directors' Fortnight in 2011. Most recently she has produced the US/Japan co-production SAKE-BOMB, which was invited to screen at SXSW, and awarded Best Screenplay at the LA Asia Pacific F.F. & Best Film at the San Diego Asian F.F. in 2014.

 

President of Jury

Mitsuru Sato (Japan)

Head of NEEC's Creator’s College

Sato was a recording engineer, who went on to teach aspiring engineers at Nihon Kogakuin. He launched StudioCAL, an animation department, in 2000 and a multi-media/animation department in 2004. He later established the Creators College in 2007. He supports the activities of young creators worldwide.

 

Jury Members

Masahiko Minami (Japan)

President, Bones, Inc.

Minami has produced TV series such as “The Vision of Escaflowne” and “Cowboy Bebop” while working for the animation company Sunrise Inc. In 1998, he established BONES INC. with animators Hiroshi Osaka and Toshihiro Kawamoto. Minami has produced many titles such as the feature film Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, the TV series and feature films of “Fullmetal Alchemist”, the TV series “Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN”, the feature film Sword of the Stranger, and the TV series“SPACE DANDY”

 

Atsushi Ohara (Japan)

Journalist

Born in 1967 in Tokyo. Ohara joined The Asahi Shimbun Company in 1991. He works for the Culture & Lifestyle section and reports about films, animations and manga. Since 2007, he has been writing a weekly editorial “Animagedon by Atsuhi Ohara” on Asahi Shimbun Digital. He published a book “Ichimen Top wa Robot-Anime: Animagedon by Atsuhi Ohara” (Nippon Hyoron Sha). He is a member of Japan Animation Association.