DIRECTOR'S BIO

Kazuhiro Soda was born and raised in Japan and has lived in New York 
since 1993.

His first feature documentary CAMPAIGN (2007) was invited to numerous 
festivals around the world, including Berlin Film Festival (Forum), 
Cinema du Reel, Fribourg Film Festival, SXSW, Hong Kong Film 
Festival, Hot Docs, Dox, and Nantes 3 continents Film Festival. 
CAMPAIGN was theatrically released in Japan in 25 cities across the 
nation and the DVD has been widely released. It was also screened at 
the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City for a week. A.O. 
Scott of The New York Times wrote, "Campaign may invite a certain 
skepticism about democracy, but it will surely restore your faith in 
cinema verite." Its 52-minute version was broadcast in almost 200 countries 
on such broadcasters as BBC, ZDF/ARTE, CBC, NHK, PBS, among others. 

His second feature documentary, MENTAL won the best documentary award (PIFF
Mecenat Award) at Pusan International Film Festival and the best documentary award
(Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentary Award) at Dubai International Film Festival in 2008.

He is currently shooting SEINENDAN (working title), a feature documentary 
about an internationally acclaimed playwright/director Hirata Oriza 
and his theater company.

While he was still a student, his short fiction film THE FLICKER (1997)  
competed for a Silver Lion Award at the Venice International Film 
Festival in Italy. FREEZING SUNLIGHT (1996) was nominated for  
a New Filmmaker's Award at the Sao Paulo International Film 
Festival in Brazil. A FLOWER AND A WOMAN (1995) won a Special  
Commendation in the Canadian Annual International Film Festival. 
Among the many TV documentaries Soda has directed, 
LANDSCAPE WITHOUT MOTHER (NHK) won a Telly Award in 2001.

Soda holds a BFA in Filmmaking from the School of Visual Arts with honor,
and a BA in Religious Studies from Tokyo University. 

FILMOGRAPHY

FICTION FILMS

DOCUMENTARY