Takashi Ito

is a Japanese experimental filmmaker known for his avant-garde short films, including Spacy, Thunder (1982), and Ghost (1984). His films are characterized by such photographic techniques as long-exposure and time-lapse photography, as well as a stop motion technique in which series of photographs are themselves photographed frame-by-frame, creating an animated effect.

Ito's filmmaking style and interest in experimental film were influenced by his mentor Toshio Matsumoto, Over the course of his career, Ito has directed a total of over 20 short films, a number of which have been shown at film festivals and as part of retrospective exhibitions on Ito's filmography.

Ito's debut feature-length film, Toward Zero, premiered at the 2021 Image Forum Festival, and received a theatrical release in Japan in August 2022.

Early life and education Takashi Ito was born in 1956 in Fukuoka, Japan, as the second son of his mother, a nurse, and his father, a journalist and fan of film. As a child, Ito watched anime produced by Toei Animation, as well as Disney animated films, but was disallowed by his father from seeing kaiju films like those in the Godzilla series.

In 1982, Spacy screened at the Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art in Japan and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris in France. Following a later screening at the University of Würzburg, Kawanaka recalled, a hat was passed around the audience that eventually filled with a "mountain" of banknotes and coins. Ito would continue to hone his own distinct style in his following work, such as Box, Thunder, Screw (all 1982), Drill (1983), Ghost (1984), and Grim (1985). time-lapse, and long exposure photography.

Thunder, Ghost, and Grim have been particularly noted for their ominous atmospheres and imagery, using light, sound design, and long-exposure and time-lapse photography to invoke the feeling of spaces haunted by ghostly presences. Thunder screened at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival in 1984, and was later shown at the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art in 1996.

1990s–present: Later shorts, retrospectives and Toward Zero Ito continued to make experimental shorts into the 1990s and 2000s, with his output including The Moon (1994), Zone (1995), Monochrome Head (1997), Dizziness (2001), and A Silent Day (2002).

In January 2009, Ito exhibited a video installation he created titled The Dead Dance in Kyoto.

In 2010, Ito was an arts professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design.

Filmography Short films

Noh (1977) Movement (1978) Movement 2 (1979) Movement 3 (1980) Spacy (1981) Box (1982) Thunder (1982) Screw (1982) Drill (1983) Ghost (1984) Grim (1985) Photodiary (1986) Wall (1987) Photodiary '87 (1987) Devil's Circuit (1988) The Mummy's Dream (1989) Venus (1990) December Hide-and-Go-Seek (1993) The Moon (1994) Zone (1995) Apparatus M (1996) Monochrome Head (1997) Dizziness (2001) Double (2001) A Silent Day (2002) Unbalance (2006) Tokyo Loop (2006)

Feature films Toward Zero (2021)