Mitsutoshi Tanaka

Born in 1958 in Hokkaido, Japan, film and commercial director Mitsutoshi Tanaka graduated from the Osaka University of Arts Department of Visual Concept Planning in 1981. After working with Dentsu Eigasha and TV Man Union, he established Osaka-based film production firm Creators' Union in 1984 and has served as the company's President and CEO since that time. He has been a Professor of Film and Media Studies with the Osaka University of Arts since 2014 and a Visiting Fellow with the Wakayama University Center for Tourism Research since 2017. As a commercial director he has been working in various areas such as promotional videos, TV commercials and music videos and has received many awards, including the All Japan Radio & Television Commercial Confederation Award, the Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association Award and the Japan Industrial Film Competition Prize. His works include tourism promotion videos for Mihama Municipality, TV commercials for Honda Motor and music videos for Yi-Fang Wu. He has directed several TV dramas, most notably the 1993 Japanese-Chinese co-production "The Land of the Three Kingdoms" for TV Osaka. His first theatrical feature "Kewaishi", a period drama based on a manga by Shotaro Ishinomori, was released in 2001. It was an official selection at the 5th Shanghai International Film Festival and won the Award for Best Screenplay at the 14th Tokyo International Film Festival. He became widely known for award-winning works such as "Godai - The Wunderkind" (2020), "125 Years Memory" (2015), "Blossoms Bloom" (2014), "Ask This of Rikyu" (2013) and "Castle Under Fiery Skies" (2009). He has received numerous awards, including the 94th Kinema Junpo Readers' Choice Award for Best Director for his film "Godai - The Wunderkind", the 39th Japan Academy Film Prize as Excellent Director for "125 Years Memory", the Best Director Award at the 1st Asia International Film Festival in Taipei for "Blossoms Bloom" and the Best Director Award at the 2014 Osaka Cinema Festival for "Ask This of Rikyu". He was appointed as Tourism Ambassador of his hometown Urakawa, Hokkaido in 2010, Honorary Director of the Turkish Museum in Kushimoto, Wakayama in 2016 and Tourism Ambassador of Awara, Fukui in 2017. In 2016 he received the Governor's Award of Wakayama Prefecture and the Mayor's Award of Kushimoto Municipality.