Akiko Izumitani is a female director/writer born and raised in Kyoto, Japan. After graduating from high school, she came to the United States to pursue her dream to be a director in Hollywood. She is also a member of AWD (Alliance of Women Directors) in Los Angeles.

Akiko first earned recognition through her feature-length documentary, "Silent Shame" (2010). It won numerous awards worldwide, including Best Feature in the Beijing Movie Festival, and has a screening at an Oscar Qualified film festival. 

Several years later, Akiko directed "Kung Fu Date,” which won the Remi Award at the Houston Film Festival, and "Sukiyaki with Love" (Semi-Finalist of NBCUniversal Shortcuts). Her action short film, “The Other Side” won The Best Short Film at Sacramento Asian Film Festival and ECA Award by ICG and had a screening sponsored by ICG at DGA.

Biography

Akiko was a finalist of Women of Color Commercial Directing Program (Top 10 out of 100+) in 2020, a semi-finalist of NBC Female Forward (Top 20 out of 1000) in 2018, Sony Directors Program (Top 25 out of 250) in 2017, and 2019, and ABC Director's Program in 2014. She was also considered to be an episodic director of AMC’s The Terror Season 2 by Scott Free. Akiko was selected as one of the top rising Asian American filmmakers in 2013.

While she was working for 20 Century FOX as a project manager, she also studied screenwriting, taught man-to-man by Monte Merrick (Writer of Mr. Baseball and Memphis Belle), and Jonathan Tsuneishi (A script analyst at 20 Century Fox.) She is an active member of Santa Monica Screenwriting Group to exchange notes with Nicole Perlman (Writer of Captain Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy), Ben Kim (Writer of Queen Sugar), and James ‘Doc’ Mason (Writer of The Cage).

After working for 20 Century FOX, she became a set production assistant in Bullet Train where she also worked as a set Japanese consultant to advise a stunt coordinator, a set decoration department, and prop masters. She also helped Michael Shannon and Andrew Koji with the Japanese dialect. 

Currently, Akiko is in post-production for Yae: The Blind Samurai Woman that became a finalist of multi screenwriting contests and is writing the feature "Blue Orchid'' which Ryuhei Kitamura is attached to direct. 

Achievement

• Finalist of Women of Color directing program 2020 (Top 10 over 100)

• Semi-Finalist for NBC Female Forward 2018 (Top 20 over 1000)

• Sony Diversity Directing Program 2017 and 2019 (Top 25 over 250),

• ABC Diversity Directing Program 2014

• NBCUniversal Short Cuts 2013 (Top 14 over 200)

Awards

The Other Side: Short Film

Story, Producer and Director

Winner of Emerging Cinematographer Award by International Cinematographers Guild (ICG)

CAAM (San Francisco Asian Film Festival)

Official Selection

Los Angeles Pacific Asian Film Festival

Official Selection

Sacramento Asian Film Festival

Winner of the Best Narrative Short Film

Winner of the Best Cinematography

Short Shorts and Asia (Oscar Qualified Film Festival)

Official Selection

HollyShorts Film Festival

Official Selection

Aruba Film Festival

Official Selection

Bali International Film Festival

Official Selection

Sukiyaki with Love: Short Film

Writer, Producer, Editor, and Director

NBC Universal Shortcuts

Semi Finalist

Emerging Filmmaker’s Forum

Official Selection

CAAM (San Francisco Asian Film Festival)

Official Selection

Kung Fu Date: Short Film

Writer, Producer, Editor, and Director

Houston International World-Fest

Winner – Gold Remi Award (Romantic Comedy)

Raindance Film Festival (UK) (Oscar qualified film festival)

Official Selection

San Diego Asian American Film Festival

Official Selection

Silent Shame: Feature Documentary

Writer, Producer, Editor, and Director

Beijing International Movie Festival

Winner - Golden Duck Awards

Beijing International Film Festival

Official Selection

Action On Film International Film Festival

Winner – Best Political Statement Movie

First Runner Up – Best Documentary

End of the Pier International Film Festival

Winner - Best International Feature Film

Accolade Competition

Winner – Best of Show

San Gabriel International Film Festival

Winner – Best Feature Documentary

Myrtle Beach Film Festival

Official Selection

The Foyle Film Festival

Official Selection

Indie Spirits Film Festival

Official Selection

Commercial

Hotta Liesenberg Saito & Co  - Director – Asahi Homecast

Megatronics  - Director – Asahi Homecast

Asahi Ryokuken  - Director – Asahi Homecast

NEX-USA  - Director – Asahi Homecast

Network

Script Writers Group Santa Monica

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Alliance of Women Directors