Katsuhito Ishii

Katsuhito Ishii
石井 克人
Born (1966-12-31) 31 December 1966
Alma materMusashino Art University
OccupationsFilm director, Screenwriter
Years active1992–present
Websitewww.nicerainbow.com

Katsuhito Ishii (石井 克人, Ishii Katsuhito; born 31 December 1966) is a Japanese film director best known for directing The Taste of Tea (2004), Funky Forest (2005), and Smuggler (2011).

Career

After graduating from Musashino Art University, Ishii got a job at Tohokushinsha Film and began directing commercials in 1992, receiving numerous awards in this field. His first short film, The Promise of August, shot in 1995, received the Japanese Film Grand Prix in the Fantastic Video Section of the 1995 Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival.[1]

He made his feature debut with Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl, based on the visual novel by cult manga artist Minetaro Mochizuki and starring regular collaborator Tadanobu Asano.

Ishii quickly followed his success with another box office hit, Party 7 (2000), which featured Masatoshi Nagase, Yoshio Harada and Tadanobu Asano among others. Between the years 2001 and 2002, he created a series of short films including the 3D animated dialogue piece Hal & Bons and the 2D animated space opera Trava Fist Planet. Among other commercials and select TV projects including the short Black Room which starred Takuya Kimura, and Music Power Go Go!, He collaborated with Production I.G for the animation sequence of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1.

In 2004, his fourth feature film The Taste of Tea won Best Feature Film at the Hawaii International Film Festival. In 2006, he co-directed the feature film Funky Forest with fellow Japanese film makers and old school friends Shunichiro Miki and ANIKI. He founded his own production company, Nice Rainbow, in October 2006.[2]

Filmography

Year English title Original title Role Notes
1995 Promise of August' 8月の約束
Hachigatsu no yakusoku
Writer and director
1998 Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl 鮫肌男と桃尻女
Samehada otoko to momojiri onna
2000 Party 7 PARTY7
2001 Trava: Fist Planet episode 1 Co-directed with Takeshi Koike Original Video Animation
2004 The Taste of Tea 茶の味
Cha no aji
Writer and director
2005 Funky Forest: The First Contact ナイスの森 The First Contact
Naisu no mori: The First Contact
Co-written and co-directed with Hajime Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki
2007 Hokuro Brothers Full Throttle!!!! ホクロ兄弟 フルスロットル!!!!
Hokuro Kyodai Full Throttle!!!!
Director
2008 My Darling of the Mountains 山のあなた 徳市の恋
Yama no anata - Tokuichi no koi
Sorasoi そらそい Co-written with Yûka Ôsumi; co-directed with Shunichirô Miki
2009 Redline REDLINE Screenplay and original story
2011 Smuggler スマグラー おまえの未来を運べ
Smuggler: Carry Your Own Future
Director and screenplay Based on manga by Shohei Manabe
2014 Hello! Jun'ichi ハロー!純一
Harô! Jun'ichi
Co-directed with Kanoko Kawaguchi and Atsushi Yoshioka Based on novel by Noriko Ishii
2015 Gamera: 50th Anniversary N/a Writer and director Short film
2022 Norioka Workshop ノリオカワークショップ
TBA Funky Forest: The Second Contact ナイスの森 The Second Contact
Naisu no mori: The Second Contact
Co-written and co-directed with Hajime Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki In production

References

  1. ^ "YUBARI INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC ADVENTURE FILM FESTIVAL'95". yubarifanta.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  2. ^ Nice Rainbow website; accessed 20 June 2015.