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Singer / Songwriter Born in Tokyo.
In 1973 formed the band “Sugar Babe” with Tatsuro Yamashita and others. In 1975 released “Songs”, Japan’s first urban pop music, which became a classic, but the group split up in 1976. In the same year was “Grey Skies” solo debut. Since then she has released 26 albums. She is one of the first female singer/songwriters of Japanese Pop music. Her transparent singing and her original thoughts of beauty based on her concept of the music world fascinate many people.
Regarding her albums, in her early works “Romantic” and “Cliche´” she worked in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Kenji Omura, and now the pianist, Fabian Reza Pane, who is presently essential to the sessions and also joined “pure acoustic”, as well as in 1990, Takeshi Kobayashi, the rising energetic musician at that time, participated on “Drawing”, a masterpiece of Japanese Pop music.
Working on lots of commercials and music for visual contents, wrote the Theme Song to the original “Shall we Dance?” film (Director: Masanari Suou, 1996), produced music for the film “Tokyo Biyori” (Director: Naoto Takenaka, 1998, 21st Japan Academy Award winner for Best Music). Worked on the first overseas distribution for Studio Ghibli, “Kirikou”.
Still recording albums and gathering ideas, including reporting trips to the South Pole and 6 Continents, she has left her mark, and her travelogues and essays about daily life are also popular. In her writings about everyday life she confronts the issues of the environment, the problems of food and energy, and she also is an activist doing farm work and health care that is based on oriental medical science.
Worked on the end-theme of the movie “Glasses” to be released September 2007
Shane Smith is the Director of Programming for Channel Zero Inc, an independent Canadian broadcaster and owner of the digital TV channels Movieola- The Short Film Channel and Silver Screen Classics. Prior to this he was Director of the Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto. Shane is the former Programmer for the Inside Out Festival, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Aboriginal Media and the Organizing Committee of the International Short Film Conference. He directed the short film Goodbye To Love and has written about film for the Canadian publications Xtra! and Cinema Scope. Shane has spoken, juried and curated at several film festivals all over the world, and is a Short Film Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival.
Yongyoot Thongkongtoon serves as the Head of Marketing and Promotion as well as the Head of International Affairs for Gmm Tai Hub Co., Ltd. (GTH). Upbeat and optimistic, his easy manner belies an impressive list of accomplishments. A lifelong devotee of Thai cinema, Yongyoot’s own directorial debut, The Iron Ladies, was the first-ever Thai film to enjoy international success as well as being the top-grossing domestic film of 2000. As a producer, his credits include the critically and commercially celebrated films Mekhong Full Moon Party, The Iron Ladies (I & II) and My Girl. As a co-founder, principal partner and commercials director of commercial production house Hub Ho Hin - Bangkok, his success with My Girl for Hub Ho Hin and its media partners, GMM Grammy and Tai Entertainment, led directly to the establishment of GTH as a joint venture between the three. Although principally occupied by his dual role at GTH, Yongyoot is still very active as a filmmaker. His third directorial effort, M.A.I.D., was released in December of 2004 and the latest film of his is a new romantic comedy film which was successfully released in Thailand in July 2006.
The Director Kim Dong-ho majored in Law at the Seoul National University and received MA in Administration at the Hanyang University. Mr Kim had consecutively filled various government posts at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (formerly known as Ministry of Culture and Information) for 27 years. In addition, he served as the president at the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation and at the Seoul Arts Center. He worked as the vice-Minister at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Now Kim Dong-ho is the Director at the Pusan International Film Festival and vice-chairman at the Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema. Kim Dong-ho has been awarded many cultural medals in recognition of his achievements and efforts in the cultural development in South Korea as well as in the international society. The Director has served as the jury in the many other prestigious film festivals such as the Rotterdam, India and the Seattle International Film Festival. His recent book, ‘History of Korean Cinema Policy’ (written by Kim Dong-ho et al) was published in 2005.
Michael Arias has had a colorful and varied filmmaking career, spanning the worlds of photo-mechanical visual effects, computer graphics, and traditional animation. He began work at Dream Quest Images in 1987, as a motion-control camera assistant/operator on effects-heavy films such as THE ABYSS and TOTAL RECALL. Michael was then invited by visual effects legend, director Douglas Trumbull, to animate ride vehicle motion for Universal Studios' BACK TO THE FUTURE, THE RIDE, to this day the gold standard in immersive entertainment. He then moved to Tokyo, first to post-production monolith Imagica, and then to game giant Sega, where he co-directed and programmed the ridefilm MEGALOPOLICE. In 1992 Michael co-founded CG design boutique Syzygy Digital Cinema, creators of digital sequences for M. BUTTERFLY, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, PRET-A-PORTER, CROOKLYN, and CLOCKERS. At 3D-animation software innovator Softimage, Michael developed and patented Toon Shaders, software for combining traditional animation and computer graphics. Michael worked closely with the staff of Dreamworks Animation and Studio Ghibli to add a distinct visual flavor to the films PRINCE OF EGYPT, THE ROAD TO EL DORADO, and Miyazaki's masterpieces THE PRINCESS MONONOKE, and SPIRITED AWAY. Michael then accepted an invitation from Joel Silver and Andy and Larry Wachowski to produce Warner Bros' Matrix-inspired animation anthology THE ANIMATRIX, a project that consumed him for close to three years. TEKKONKINKREET, based on the popular manga by Taiyo Matsumoto, is Michael's feature film directing debut. Michael is currently directing a short film for NHK at Studio4?C and developing a live-action feature film.
