Katsuhito Ishii

is a Japanese film director best known for directing The Taste of Tea, Funky Forest (2005), and Smuggler (2011).

Career After graduating from Musashino Art University, Ishii got a job at Tohokushinsha Film and began directing commercials in 1992, receiving numerous awards in this field. His first short film, The Promise of August, shot in 1995, received the Japanese Film Grand Prix in the Fantastic Video Section of the 1995 Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival.

He made his feature debut with Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl, based on the visual novel by cult manga artist Minetaro Mochizuki and starring regular collaborator Tadanobu Asano.

Ishii quickly followed his success with another box office hit, Party 7 (2000), which featured Masatoshi Nagase, Yoshio Harada and Tadanobu Asano among others. Between the years 2001 and 2002, he created a series of short films including the 3D animated dialogue piece Hal & Bons and the 2D animated space opera Trava Fist Planet. Among other commercials and select TV projects including the short Black Room which starred Takuya Kimura, and Music Power Go Go!, He collaborated with Production I.G for the animation sequence of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1.

In 2004, his fourth feature film The Taste of Tea won Best Feature Film at the Hawaii International Film Festival. In 2006, he co-directed the feature film Funky Forest with fellow Japanese film makers and old school friends Shunichiro Miki and ANIKI. He founded his own production company, Nice Rainbow, in October 2006.

Filmography Year English title Original title Role Notes 1995 Promise of August'''

1998 Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl| 鮫肌男と桃尻女Samehada otoko to momojiri onna| 2000 Party 7| PARTY7| 2001 Trava: Fist Planet episode 1| Co-directed with Takeshi Koike Original Video Animation 2004 The Taste of Tea| 茶の味Cha no aji| Writer and director 2005 Funky Forest: The First Contact| ナイスの森 The First ContactNaisu no mori: The First Contact| Co-written and co-directed with Hajime Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki 2007

My Darling of the Mountains| 山のあなた 徳市の恋Yama no anata - Tokuichi no koi| Sorasoi| そらそい| Co-written with Yûka Ôsumi; co-directed with Shunichirô Miki 2009 Redline| REDLINE| Screenplay and original story 2011 Smuggler| スマグラー おまえの未来を運べSmuggler: Carry Your Own Future| Director and screenplay Based on manga by Shohei Manabe 2014 Hello! Jun'ichi| ハロー！純一Harô! Jun'ichi| Co-directed with Kanoko Kawaguchi and Atsushi Yoshioka Based on novel by Noriko Ishii 2015 Gamera: 50th Anniversary|

2022 Norioka Workshop| ノリオカワークショップ|- Funky Forest: The Second Contact| ナイスの森 The Second ContactNaisu no mori: The Second Contact'' Co-written and co-directed with Hajime Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki In production