Katsuhito Ishii
Encyclopedia
Work
Katsuhito Ishii began directing commercials in 1992, receiving numerous awards in this field. His first short film The Promise of August, shot in 1995, went on to receive the Japanese Film Grand Prix in the Fantastic Video Section of the 1995 Yubari International Fantastic Film FestivalYubari International Fantastic Film Festival
The , also sometimes called YIFFF, is held in a resort-like environment in the small town of Yūbari on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaidō. From 1990 to 1999, the festival was known as the Yubari International Fantastic Adventure Film Festival.-History:...
Ishii made his feature
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
debut with Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl
Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl
is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Katsuhito Ishii and starring Tadanobu Asano. It is based on a manga of the same name by Minetaro Mochizuki which was originally serialized in Mister Magazine circa 1993 under the title "Daisharin"...
, based on the visual novel by cult manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
artist Minetaro Mochizuki
Minetarō Mochizuki
is a Japanese manga artist. He won the Award for Excellence at the 4th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the Award for General Manga at the 21st Kodansha Manga Award for Dragon Head.-References:...
and starring regular collaborator Tadanobu Asano
Tadanobu Asano
, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin...
.
Ishii quickly followed his success with another box office hit, Party 7 (2000), which featured Masatoshi Nagase
Masatoshi Nagase
Masatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's Cold Fever and Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train, in Japan for his role as TV's Mike Hama .He has won two Japanese Academy Awards, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Newcomer in 1992...
, Yoshio Harada
Yoshio Harada
was a Japanese actor best known for playing rebels in a career that spanned six decades.-Career:Born in Tokyo, Harada joined the Haiyūza theater troupe in 1966 and made his television debut in 1967 with "Tenka no seinen" and his film debut in 1968 with Fukushū no uta ga kikoeru. He came to fame...
and Tadanobu Asano
Tadanobu Asano
, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin...
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
Trava Fist Planet
Trava: Fist Planet is an anime OVA released by Grasshopa! and directed by Katsuhito Ishii and Takeshi Koike.Trava: Fist Planet tells the story of Trava and Shinkai, as they travel to finish surveying an unknown and possibly dangerous planet. Trava is an ex-military Power user, which is a form of...
. Among other commercials and select TV projects including the short Black Room which starred Takuya Kimura
Takuya Kimura
, nicknamed , is a Japanese singer and actor. He is also a member of the Japanese idol group SMAP. Most of the TV dramas he starred in produced high ratings in Japan...
, and Music Power Go Go!, Ishii also found the time to collaborate with Production I.G for the animation sequence of Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Kill Bill Vol. 1. In 2004, his fourth feature film The Taste of Tea
The Taste of Tea
is the third film by Japanese writer and director Katsuhito Ishii. The film has been referred to as a "surreal" version of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. It was a selection of the Cannes Film Festival.-Synopsis:...
won Best Feature Film at the Hawaii International Film Festival
Hawaii International Film Festival
The Hawaii International Film Festival is a film festival held in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It was started in 1981 by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko and has been held annually in the fall for two weeks...
. In 2006, he co-directed the feature film Funky Forest
Funky Forest
Funky Forest: The First Contact, also known as Naisu no mori: The First Contact or Funky Forest: The First Encounter is a 2005 Japanese movie written and directed by Katsuhito Ishii, Hajimine Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki...
with fellow Japanese film makers and old school friends Shunichiro Miki and ANIKI
Aniki
Aniki may refer to:* A given name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace", a Japanese honorable term for an older brother or a superior...
. Ishii established his own company called Nice Rainbow in October 2006.
Filmography
- The Promise of August (1996, short film)
- Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip GirlShark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girlis a 1999 Japanese film directed by Katsuhito Ishii and starring Tadanobu Asano. It is based on a manga of the same name by Minetaro Mochizuki which was originally serialized in Mister Magazine circa 1993 under the title "Daisharin"...
(1999) starring Tadanobu AsanoTadanobu Asano, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin... - Party 7 (2000) starring Masatoshi NagaseMasatoshi NagaseMasatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's Cold Fever and Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train, in Japan for his role as TV's Mike Hama .He has won two Japanese Academy Awards, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Newcomer in 1992...
, Tadanobu AsanoTadanobu Asano, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin... - Black Room (2001, short) starring Takuya KimuraTakuya Kimura, nicknamed , is a Japanese singer and actor. He is also a member of the Japanese idol group SMAP. Most of the TV dramas he starred in produced high ratings in Japan...
- Music Power Go! Go! (2001, short) starring Shingo KatoriShingo Katoriis the youngest member of SMAP, a popular Japanese idol group from the agency Johnny & Associates, and he is from Yokohama, Japan. Shingo Katori has acted in several dramas such as Three Peace, and has appeared as a voice actor in such anime series as Akazukin Chacha, in which he voiced the part of...
, Tsuyoshi KusanagiTsuyoshi Kusanagiis a Japanese entertainer. Kusanagi is a member of the popular Japanese idol group SMAP and has also appeared in a number of television dramas, variety shows and movies.-Background:Kusanagi grew up in Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan.... - Hal & Bons (2001–2002, short series, animation)
- Trava Fist PlanetTrava Fist PlanetTrava: Fist Planet is an anime OVA released by Grasshopa! and directed by Katsuhito Ishii and Takeshi Koike.Trava: Fist Planet tells the story of Trava and Shinkai, as they travel to finish surveying an unknown and possibly dangerous planet. Trava is an ex-military Power user, which is a form of...
episode 1 (2001–2002, short series, animation) - The Taste of TeaThe Taste of Teais the third film by Japanese writer and director Katsuhito Ishii. The film has been referred to as a "surreal" version of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. It was a selection of the Cannes Film Festival.-Synopsis:...
(2004) starring Tadanobu AsanoTadanobu Asano, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin...
, Maya Banno, Takahiro Sato, Tomokazu MiuraTomokazu Miurais a Japanese actor. Born January 28, 1952 in Enzan, Yamanashi, his real name is Miura Minoru . He attended Hino high school in Tokyo, and married actress and singer Momoe Yamaguchi in 1980...
, Anna TsuchiyaAnna Tsuchiyais a Japanese singer, lyricist, actress and semi-retired model.Tsuchiya was born to a Japanese mother and an American father of Polish-Irish descent from Buffalo, New York. In her earliest years, she spoke English and Japanese... - Funky ForestFunky ForestFunky Forest: The First Contact, also known as Naisu no mori: The First Contact or Funky Forest: The First Encounter is a 2005 Japanese movie written and directed by Katsuhito Ishii, Hajimine Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki...
(2005) starring Tadanobu AsanoTadanobu Asano, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin...
, Susumu TerajimaSusumu Terajimais a Japanese actor who has appeared in over 100 films, 15 television commercials, three PVs, and numerous television dramas in a career spanning over 20 years. He rarely is the star of the films he is in but he is widely respected for taking every job seriously and diving into his work,...
, Ryō KaseRyo Kaseis a Japanese actor. He grew up in Bellevue, Washington until he was seven. He portrayed Shimizu, one of the lower-ranked Japanese soldiers, in Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima. He starred in Masayuki Suo's film I Just Didn't Do It.-Filmography:...
, Rinko KikuchiRinko Kikuchi, born , January 6, 1981, is a Japanese actress. Kikuchi is the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years. She is currently Japan's only living female Academy Award nominee in acting categories... - My Darling of the Mountains (Yama no anata - Tokuichi no koi, 2008)
- Sorasoi (2008) starring Sota AoyamaSota Aoyamais a Japanese male actor. He is best known for his roles as Sadaharu Inui of the first generation Seigaku cast of the Prince of Tennis musical series, Tenimyu, and as Kaito Toma, the human host of Ultraman Max in the 2005 Ultraman Max series.- Stage Roles :...
, Sayuri Ichikawa, Ryu Morioka - SmugglerSmuggler (manga)is a Japanese manga series by Shohei Manabe. It was adapted into a live action film in 2011....
(2011)