Fumi Kitahara

Fumi Kitahara Otto (March 2, 1968 – February 24, 2025) was an American publicist in the animation industry. Over a 30-year career, she led publicity and awards campaigns for studios including DreamWorks Animation, Aardman Animations, Laika, Netflix, and Disney. She was regarded as one of the premier publicists for animated content and was instrumental in raising the profile of animation within the wider entertainment industry.

Early life and education Fumi Kitahara was born on March 2, 1968. She attended California State University, Northridge (CSUN), graduating with a degree in business marketing.

Career

Walt Disney Studios (1992–1996) Kitahara began her career in 1992 at Walt Disney Studios, working under veteran Disney publicist Howard Green. During her tenure at Disney, she helped promote several notable animated features, including The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), Toy Story (1995), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and the documentary Frank and Ollie (1995). She also supported campaigns for various live-action titles.

DreamWorks Animation (1996–2007) In 1996, Kitahara joined the fledgling DreamWorks SKG and helped establish its animation publicity department. She served as DreamWorks’ Head of Animation Publicity for the next 11 years, launching award-focused campaigns for numerous high-profile films. Among these were The Prince of Egypt (1998), Shrek (2001)—which won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature—and Aardman’s Chicken Run (2000) and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). In addition to her consulting work with studios such as Aardman, Baobab Studios, Laika, and Netflix, Kitahara also worked as an entertainment publicist at Google Spotlight Stories for four years. She also served as "a member of the Public Relations branch" of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Kitahara was recognised during the "In Memoriam" segment of the 97th Academy Awards. Women in Animation plans to establish the Fumi Kitahara Membership and Scholarship Fund, "to recognize the impact Fumi has had on the members of WIA she lifted up through her hard work over the years".

Selected work Source

Films The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) The Lion King (1994) Frank and Ollie (1995) Pocahontas (1995) Toy Story (1995) The Prince of Egypt (1998) Chicken Run (2000) Shrek (2001) Shrek 2 (2004) Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) Shrek the Third (2007) Coraline (2009) Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009) Walt & El Grupo (2009) How to Train Your Dragon (2010) ParaNorman (2012) The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) Joanna (2013) The Boxtrolls (2014) Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) Tyrus (2015) Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) Mirai (2018) I Lost My Body (2019) Klaus (2019) Missing Link (2019) A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019) Over the Moon (2020) The Mitchells vs The Machines (2021) Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) The Sea Beast (2022)

Shorts French Roast (2008) The Gruffalo (2009) Adam and Dog (2011) A Morning Stroll (2011) Room on the Broom (2013) Duet (2014) Pearl (2016) Revolting Rhymes (2016) Robin Robin (2021) The Windshield Wiper (2021)