Tetsuya MARIKO

Tetsuya Mariko is one of the most notable filmmakers in contemporary Japanese cinema, known for his unique creativity. He graduated from the directing course at the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts, Asia’s premier film school, in 2009. His graduation project and feature debut Yellow Kid was nominated for the Dragon & Tiger Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival and was also invited to film festivals in Hong Kong, Rotterdam, San Sebastian, and others. The film achieved an exceptional theatrical release in Japan for a student film at that time. His second feature, Destruction Babies, was also internationally acclaimed, winning the Best Emerging Director Award at the Locarno International Film Festival and the Montgolfière d’argent at the Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes. In Japan, it won three crowns at the Kinema Junpo Best Ten and six crowns at the Yokohama Film Festival. His third work, Miyamoto, was nominated for the NETPAC Award for Best Screenplay by the Asian Film Critics Association. In Japan, he won Best Director awards at the Nikkan Sports Film Awards and the Blue Ribbon Awards. Mariko is known for his brutal depictions of violence set against the backdrop of examining Japan’s stagnant society, while also having extensive experience in international co-productions in recent years with short films like COYOTE and Before Anyone Else. From March 2019, he spent a year in Boston as a visiting researcher at the Reischauer Institute at Harvard University. When invited as a jury member at the Chicago International Film Festival, he began conceptualizing this work.