SHINGO OTA (Film director and actor)

Born in 1985, Nagano Prefecture. Ota graduated from Waseda University School of Humanities and Social Sciences, where he studied philosophy and narratology. “Graduation” received an award at Image Forum Festival 2010. His first full-length documentary film “The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed” (2013) was presented at Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2013 and shown in 12 countries around the world. His recent feature documentary “Numakage Public Pool” (2025) won the First Cut+ Works in Progress Award at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2024.He was selected for Talents Tokyo in 2013.

EMMA KAWAWADA (Film director)

After joining Bunbuku in 2014, Kawawada served as assistant director on films by director Hirokazu Kore-eda. She won the ARTE International Prize at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival's Asian Project Market (APM) in 2018. She made her commercial feature film debut with “My Small Land” (2022). This work was invited to the Generation category at the Berlin International Film Festival, among many other festivals. She also received a special commendation for it at the Amnesty International Film Awards.

MAI NAKANISHI (Writer & Director)

Nakanishi is a Japanese director known for crafting female-driven, genre-defying narratives across Asia that push storytelling boundaries. Her shorts include HANA (2018), a supernatural horror shot in Korea; SWALLOW (2021), a body horror filmed in Taiwan; and BORDER (2023), a surreal home invasion thriller shot in Korea. In her latest short, CONFESSION (2025), she collaborated with pioneering female cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa, renowned for her longtime work with Kiyoshi Kurosawa. An alumna of the BIFF Asian Film Academy, Talents Tokyo, and the Sundance/NHK Script Lab, Nakanishi was also selected for the TIFF Directors’Lab 2025. Her short film collection was theatrically released this summer at six theatres across Japan. She's currently developing her debut feature.

KOHKI HASEI (Film director and writer)

After releasing "GODOG, Luha Sa Desyerto (Tears of the Desert)" a short film that captures the story of people living in garbage piles and graveyards in the Philippines, Hasei made his feature-length directorial debut with "Blanka", a story about a child living on the streets who dreams of "buying" a mother. It won the Magic Lantern Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2015, along with the Sorriso Diverso award, granted by journalists. Hasei has received 20 awards at film festivals around the world including the Shindo Kaneto Award Gold Prize for new directors in Japan.