Masamichi Matsumoto
Cinémathèque Director

Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan in 1950, Masamichi Matsumoto, since 1979, has been the Program Director of the Athénée Français Cultural Center (the cinémathèque operated by the language school), which shows over 200 world-wide motion pictures annually under the theme of "reevaluating classical and discovering modern films." He has organized special feature programs on such film directors as Daniel Schmid, Sadao Yamanaka, Chris Marker, Shinsuke Ogawa,KijuYoshida and Straub-Huillet among others. He has also coordinated such events as "'Tokyo Summer ' Music Festival 1987: American Movies and Music", "Film Festival: Commemorating 200 Years from the French Revolution" (1989) and the "National Cultural Festival Gunma Prefecture 2001 in TAKASAKI Symposium 'The 21st Century and the Potential of Motion Picture Expression'."
Since his appointment in 2000 as the Co- Director of The Film School of Tokyo, a nonprofit organization (NPO), Masamichi Matsumoto has been involved in the assisting and fostering of independent filmmakers.
In 2003, he was appointed the Steering Committee Chairman of the Japan Community Cinema Support Center and continues to work towards a system where venues for film exhibition across Japan can be secured through the cooperation of the public-private sector.
He also has served in the capacity of associate producer to the film "The Written Face" (1994) directed by Daniel Schmid.　
He is the author and editor to such publications as "A Lecture Course on Art Management (Visual Edition)" published by Tokai University Press.
Presently as of October, 2016 he is the Chairman of the Board of Councilors at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo-National Film Center, a member of the Board of Councilors at the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute and a member of the Board of Trustees at the Japan Community Cinema Center.
Masamichi Matsumoto is a recipient of the "Chevalier de L'Ordre des Art et des Lettres" (2008) presented by the French government. He is also the recipient of the Kawakita Award (2009) and the Film Award by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Merit Division2015) .

Jeffrey Chan
Producer

Jeffrey is currently the COO and a board member of Bona Film Group, a leading distributor and vertically integrated company in China. He also co-founded with Nansun Shi, a veteran producer of Asian pictures, the international sales agent, Distribution Workshop, now a Hongkong-based joint-venture with Bona.

Francoise Lebrun
Actress

Francoise Lebrun is a French actress. She has appeared in many movies, and is especially known for her role as Veronika in The Mother and the Whore (1973, directed by Jean Eustache). She also worked for, amongst others, Paul Vecchiali, Marguerite Duras and Lucas Belvaux, and is the subject of the documentary Francoise Lebrun, les voies singulieres (2008). In a Variety review of the 2004 Vecchiali film A Vot' Bon Coeur, Lisa Nesselson called her "a supreme master of the sustained monologue.

Kyoko Heya
Art Director

Kyoko Heya was born in Hiroshima. While attending Musashino Art University, she worked part-time as an art assistant for Tsuburaya Productions. As soon as she graduated from college, she decided to become an art director. "Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (Shiko Funjatta)," directed by Masayuki Suo, was her debut work as an art director. Since then she has also worked on "Shall We Dance? " "Onmyoji" "When the Last Sword Is Drawn (Mibu Gishi Den)," "I Just Didn't Do (Soredemo Boku wa Yattenai)," "Suspect X (Yogishia X no Kenshin)," "Hanamizuki," "Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer," and "Sweet Bean (An)."
In 2008 she was awarded the Hiroshima Citizen Commendation, by the city. Since 2009, she has hosted this film festival, in her hometown of Hiroshima, though In 2014, the name changed to the Hiroshima International Film Festival (HIFF). Kyoko Heya has been the director, and president of the festival since 2012.

Shunji Iwai
Director
November 11 (Fri.) 19:00,23:35,24:15

Born In Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture in 1963, Shunji's directing career began in earnest in 1988 with television dramas, music videos, commercial films that earned him distinction for a cinematic style and vision that came to be known as the "Iwai Aesthetic." In 1995, he scored a huge hit across Asia, particularly in China and South Korea, with his feature-length film, "Love Letter" causing many tourists to travel to the film's location of Otaru in Hokkaido. His 1996 released film, "Picnic" won a Forum of New Cinema prize again at Berlin. "Swallowtail Butterfly"('96) blazed a new trail in movie and music collaboration with Iwai's hiring of Takeshi Kobayashi as music director. His next film came in 1998 with "April Story". Two years later, Iwai released "All About Lily Chou-Chou" which treated the Internet as a storytelling medium, winning in the Panorama section at Berlin in 2002, and both a special jury award and best music award for Takeshi Kobayashi at the 2002 Shanghai International Film Festival. Other major works include "Hana and Alice" ('04), "The Ichikawa Kon Story" ('06 documentary), the third segment in the 2010 omnibus film, "New York, I Love You", a theatrical release of "Friends after 3.11" ('12). "Vampire" has been invited to take part in the Sundance Film Festival competition and Berlin International Film Festival Panorama category. In February 2015, he released his first feature-length animated film, "The Case of Hana & Alice". This movie was nominated in the official selection of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2015.A Bride for Rip Van Winkle (16), was released in Hong Kong and Taiwan prior to domestic release in Japan.

Jeffrey Chan
Producer
November 11 (Fri.) 21:35 /November 13 (Sun.) 11:35

Jeffrey is currently the COO and a board member of Bona Film Group, a leading distributor and vertically integrated company in China. He also co-founded with Nansun Shi, a veteran producer of Asian pictures, the international sales agent, Distribution Workshop, now a Hongkong-based joint-venture with Bona.

Miwa Nishikawa
Director
November 12 (Sat.) 19:45

Born July 8th, 1974 in Hiroshima, upon gradyation from Waseda University, worked on the staff of Hirokazu Koreeda's After Life(99). She then worked as a freelance assistant director, and in 2002 debuted as a writer-direvtor with Wild Berri. Her second feature, Sway (06), was a long-runningu hit that won awards both in Japan and abroad, showing at the Cannes Film Festival. Her fourth Film, Dreams for Sale, premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. 'The Long Excuse' is her 5th film and the original book was nominated for a 2015 Naoki Award, and for the 2016 Lapan Bookselers Award.

José Luis Guerin
Director
November 12 (Sta.) 22:30 ,14:30

Jose Luis Guerin has directed nine features and numerous shorts, the best-known of these being 2007's widely acclaimed In the City of Sylvia. His films are often noted for a poetic quality in blurring the boundaries between documentary and fiction, making him one of Spain — and Europe's — most respected auteurs. His latest film, The Academy of Muses continues that streak, and the feat is heightened by the extent of his involvement in this film's production. 

Sayuri Yoshinaga
Actress
November 13 (Sun.) 11:40

Her first media appearance was in the radio drama "Akado Suzunosuke" in 1957, and she has been one of the most popular actresses in Japan since the 1960s, with fans called "Sayurist" (Sayurisuto) - for example, Akiyuki Nosaka and Tamori.[citation needed] She made a contract with the movie corporation Nikkatsu and played the lead role in many of its films. In 1962, Yoshinaga played a junior-high school girl in her most famous film, "Foundry Town", and got the Japan Record Award for "Itsudemo Yume wo" (Always Keep the Dream) with the male singer Yukio Hashi. In the 1970s and 1980s, Yoshinaga appeared in films made by other companies, as well as in TV drama serials, commercials, and s. After this period, she returned to films and she has featured in commercials for some big companies such as Sharp Aquos, Nissey and Kagome. She has been awarded the Japan Academy Prize four times. Yoshinaga has appeared in over 110 films, mostly in the lead or supporting role.[citation needed] Yoshinaga starred in Kon Ichikawa's Ohan and The Makioka Sisters. She also starred in Yoji Yamada's Kabei: Our Mother and About Her Brother.

Joaquín Del Paso
Director
November 13 (Sun.) 14:25

He was born in Mexico City. He completed courses in Film Directing and Scriptwriting at the International Film School in Cuba (EICTV). Afterwards he moved to Poland to study at the Polish National Film School in Lodz, from which he graduated with a Master in Arts degree. Joaquín lives now in Mexico City, he is the co- founder of AMONDO FILMS.
His other passions are still photography, painting and music. He works as well as a cinematographer for fiction and documentary films and has received awards and nominations for his work behind the camera.

Joushua YI Xiao-Xing
Director
November 13 (Sun.) 14:35

Joushua Yi is a young Chinese movie director who directed movie Surprise, screened on 18th Dec 2015, and got a success box office. Yi's works deconstruct the social spots ironically; as a result, young Chinese speak very highly of them. Yi has a big group of followers on the Internet as well. The mini episodes, the original of the movie of the same name, Surprise, has got the incredible 2 billions clicks in 2014.

Sunao Katabuchi
Director
November 13 (Sun.) 17:30

Born in 1960. Animated Film Director.
Director of works such as Kono Hoshi no Ue ni, Black Lagoon, Maimai Shinko to Sennen no Mahou, and the animated version of Hana ga Saku.
Special speaker for the Cinema Department and Graduate School of Film at the Nihon University College of Art. Also a member of the Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences, the Japan Society for Animation Studies, and the Japan Animation Association.

Fumiyo Kono
Manga Artist
November 13 (Sun.) 17:30

Fumiyo Kono was born in 1968 in Hiroshima. She graduated from Inokuchi High School and attended Hiroshima University.Her first work wad published in 1995.She was the winner of the Excellence Prize of the 13th Media Arts Festival in 2009.

Barry Frechette
Director
November 11 (Fri.)14:15

Barry Frechette is an ad guy by trade.  He's spent almost 25 years in the production community of Boston, and is currently the Director of Creative Services at Connelly Partners.  Most of his days are spent helping others create TV ads and other content. But when the story of Mr. Mori and the 12 American POWs in Hiroshima came his way, he was driven to tell it.  This is Barry's first film.
A 1992 graduate of Stonehill College, Barry resides in Billerica, Massachusetts.

Marta Hernaiz Pidal
Director
November 12 (Sta.)14:30

Born in Mexico City, 1988. She graduated with honours at the" Centro de DiseñoCine y Televisión" University with the short film" Pollito Chicken,Gallina Hen" which has been successful in Mexican and Latin American film festivals, obtaining a special mention for best actress in Short Shorts Film Festival 2012. Marta completed her masters degree in Bosnia Herzegovina at film.factory, school of the prominent film director Béla Tarr". Dobro", a short film she made in Sarajevo, has selected in Cinefondátion at Cannes Film Festival, 2016 and won best short-film at Guanajuato International Film Festival 2016. Marta has also worked as co-cinematographer and producer of" La Asunción de José" directed by the Colombian director Juan Rocha and" Danish Film," directed by Jorge Bolado, which is currently in postproduction process. She is currently editing her first feature film" The chaotic Life of Nada" which was also shot in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Kai Kevin Huang
Director
November 12 (Sta.)14:30

Kai Kevin Huang was born in 1983 in Shanghai.

Ye Kai
Director
November 12 (Sta.)16:45

KIM Jong-kwan
Director
November 12 (Sta.)16:45

The director of several short films, including How to Operate a Polaroid Camera（ 2004）, Slowly（ 2005）, and Phantoms of the Archive（ 2015）, Kim has been lauded at film festivals both in and out of Korea. He released the film Lovers, a collection of personal shorts, in theaters in 2008 before going on to direct the omnibus feature Come, Closer in 2010. His film Worst Woman opened on screens in Korea in August 2016. his new film The Table was world premiered in 21st Busan International Film Festival, 2016.

Yvonne Ng
Director
November 12 (Sta.)13:15

Yvonne is an international multi-award winning photographer and filmmaker. Her debut short film 'Cloud Kumo' won the City Vision's Technical Achievement Award and the Scholarship from New York Women in Film & Television, and she won the 2016 City Vision's Best Cinematography (Fiction) award for her work on 'Astral Migrant'. As a commercial photographer, she has photographed for editorials in Vogue, Glamour, People and Conde Nast Travel among many others. Her photography has won the prestigious International Photography Award, medalled multiple times in the Prix de la Photographie competition in Paris and been featured on the front page of the New York Times. Her work has been showcased all over the world including Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, China, Macau and New York. Yvonne received her MFA in Film & Productions from City College in New York and is a graduate of the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography.

Wataru Tanaka
Director
November 12 (Sta.)18:20

＜Book＞*Joint authorship Atsushi Matsuhisa+Wataru Tanaka, Heaven's Bookservice（1999）,Heaven's Bookservice Dream of utsushi-iro（2000）, Heaven's Bookservice　Koi-bi（2001）, Pool（2001）, April fool（2002）, White Goodbye（2003）, Love Comedy（2004） , Water Man（2005）, Story& Telling（ 2006） , Love or Story（ 2007） , Kamitsuki（2014）
＜Single Author＞Yellow Dog（ 2004）,Runway love（r 2010）
＜Illustration＞You Were There（Poetry：Tanikawa Shuntaro）（2003）, Under the tree of the banyan tree（Novel：Youhei Makita）（2004）

Jean-Gabriel Périot
Director
November 13 (Sun.)11:20

Born in France in 1974, Jean-Gabriel directed several short movies, both in video and cinema. He develops his own editing style with archives. Between documentary, animation and experimental, most of his works deal with Violence and History. His works, including "Dies Irae", "Even if she had been a criminal...", "Nijuman no borei" and "The Devil" were shown worldwide in numerous festivals and were honoured by many prizes. His first feature, "A German Youth", opened the Panorama section of the Berlinale 2015, was released in France (and nominated for Best Documentary for the French César), Germany and Switzerland and has been awarded worldwide.

Jun Yang
Director
November 13 (Sun.)13:45

Jun Yang is an artist based in Vienna, Taipei and Yokohama. His works encompass various mediums ‒ including, film, installation, performance and projects in the public spaces while addressing institutions, societies and audiences. Having grown up and lived in various different cultural contexts, in his artistic work Jun Yang examines the influence of clichés and media images on identity politics.
Previous exhibitions include the Gwangju Biennale 2012; the Taipei Biennial 2008, the Liverpool Biennial 2006, the 51st Biennale di Venezia 2005, and the Manifesta 4 in 2002.
In Japan he is represented by ShugoArts and will be included in the upcoming RoppongiCrossing 2016 at the Mori Art Museum later this march.

Karim Moussaoui
Director
November 11 (Fri.) 21:45

Born in 1976 in Algeria, Karim Moussaoui directs the short film Breakfast in 2003, then What We Must Do （Ce qu'on doit faire） in 2006. Founding member of Chrysalide, a association promoting cultural events, he has already worked as first assistant on Inland, a film by Tariq Teguia. In 2011, he becomes cinema-programming director at the Algiers Cultural Institute. That same year, his feature film script En attendant les hirondelles is selected for the Méditalents writing workshop, where he meets Virginie Legeay, with whom he co-scripts The Days Before.

Hubert Viel
Director
November 11 (Fri.) 21:45

Hubert Viel is a director and writer, known for Artémis, coeur d'artichaut（2013）, Les filles au Moyen Âge （2015） and Petit lapin （2014）.

Mai Sakai
Director
November 12 (Sta.)16:15

Born in 1991 in Nagano, Japan. Graduated from the Kyoto University of Art and Design. After being selected for numerous festivals and winning several awards for her debut,Lollipop, she went on to direct Spirited Away with Caramel Candies, featuring Masatoshi Nagase, her graduation project The Golden Key, and Laugh and Get Fat for Short Story Nagoya. She moved to Tokyo to direct this, her latest work.

Masakazu Kaneko
Director
November 12 (Sta.)16:15

Born in 1978 in Tokyo.Graduated from the Aoyama Gakuin University of International Politics, Economics Degree.

Paul Vecchiali
Director
November 11 (Fri.) 15:55 / November 12 (Sta.)11:55,16:45,19:45 /November 13 (Sun.) 11:55

Paul Vecchiali's cinema takes as a starting point the French cinema of the 1930s, with an experimental and autobiographical tone. His best-known films are arguably Rosa La Rose, femme publique and Once More, which makes of him the first director to link AIDS to homosexuality in a French film. He is also known for Wonder Boy – De Sueur et de sang (1994), Corps a coeur (1979), White Nights on the Pier (2014) and C'est l'amour (2015) among others. His last long feature film Le Cancre (2016) has been officially selected for the 69th Cannes Film Festival

Francoise Lebrun
Actress
November 12 (Sta.) 19:45 /November 13 (Sun.) 11:55

Francoise Lebrun is a French actress. She has appeared in many movies, and is especially known for her role as Veronika in The Mother and the Whore (1973, directed by Jean Eustache). She also worked for, amongst others, Paul Vecchiali, Marguerite Duras and Lucas Belvaux, and is the subject of the documentary Francoise Lebrun, les voies singulieres (2008). In a Variety review of the 2004 Vecchiali film A Vot' Bon Coeur, Lisa Nesselson called her "a supreme master of the sustained monologue.