Shingo Ota Film director, Actor
Born in 1985, Nagano Prefecture. Ota graduated from Waseda University School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Waseda University, 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 distributed in 12 countries over the world. Other works include, “Fragile” (2014) with direction and acting, a short film “Sunrise Vibration” (2021), a documentary film “Imagination” (2021) and TV series “Food Trucker Minami Minegishi” (8 episodes broadcasted from July 12th). Since his first appearance on stage for “Five days in March” by chelfitsch in Hong Kong (2010), he continues his career as an actor. He has appeared in stage works like “Crazy Honey” produced by PARCO (2011) and “Unfulfilled Ghost and Monster” produced by KAAT (2021) and in TV series “To Give a Dream” (WOWOW, 2015) and “Tokyo Kaiki Sake” (TV Tokyo, 2021).
Kyoko Takenaka Producer, Actor, Translator, Theater teaching
Takenaka moved to France in 2011 and became the first Japanese to pass the acting section of the French National School of Drama, and in 2016, she obtained the French National Actor's Certificate. Based in Paris, she has appeared in many stage productions, mainly those of the French national and public theatres. In 2017, she resumed her activities in Japan, and her one-woman play "The Question of Faeries" (written and directed by Satoko Ichihara) was presented in NY. In 2020, she started creating with Canadian director Marie Brassard. In 2021, she received a State Diploma in Theatre Teaching of France. She has recently performed in Satoko Ichihara’s "Madame Butterfly", a co-production with Theater Neumarkt (Switzerland).
He entered the film industry by working in independent film festivals in Paris. After working on independent film productions between France and Japan, he joined director Shingo Ota for several of his works, supervising production and translation between Paris and Tokyo. He made his directorial debut with the experimental short "Bardo" (2019), which screened in film festivals across the world and won the best non-narrative film award at the Signs of the Night International Festival in Paris. He also directs music videos, committing himself within local music scenes and tightening the bond between music and images. Also a musician, he composes music for films (including his own), by collaborating with local musicians and contributed to numbers of bands and records. He's currently working on the preproduction of his first feature film.