Akiko Izumitani
Director - writer - producer - Japanese bilingual
"I want to combine the Japanese sense of beauty with western style storytelling."
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 the festival run for Yae: The Blind Samurai Woman. She also wrote a series pilot and its bible based on the film.
Achievement
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Finalist of Women of Color directing program 2020 (Top 10 over 100)
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Semi-Finalist for NBC Female Forward 2018 (Top 20 over 1000)
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Sony Diversity Directing Program 2017 and 2019 (Top 25 over 250),
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ABC Diversity Directing Program 2014
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NBCUniversal Short Cuts 2013 (Top 14 over 200)
Awards
Yae: Blind Samurai Woman
Co-Writer, Producer, and Director
Dances with Films Film Festival
Official Selection
Durban International Film Festival
Official Selection
Asian American International Film Festival
Official Selection
Flicker's Rhode Island International Film Festival
Official Selection
HollyShorts Film Festival
Official Selection
DTLA Film Festival
Winner of Best Film
LA Femme Film Festival
Official Selection
Austin Film Festival
Official Selection
Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival
Winner of Reel Sisters Spirit Award
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
Alliance of Women Directors