About Atsushi

                Born in Japan and raised partly in the U.S., Atsushi is a graduate of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies. Nicknamed "the Most Mistaken Man in the World", Atsushi constantly gets mistaken for someone else everywhere - a waiter, a driver, a deliveryman - even while  pursuing his career in Europe, Japan and U.S. as a filmmaker, screenwriter, video artist and actor/comedian.

 

                Atsushi’s art videos and collaborative installations (with C.M. Judge and with Anna Davis) have been screened and awarded at festivals and museums world-wide, including the Reina Sofia Museum Madrid, Museum of Modern Art New York and the Venice Bienniale Xenografia. He has received screenwrting grants in Germany and the Netherlands and has appeared weekly as a comedian on Dutch national TV. 

 

                 Eternally Yours, Atsushi’s latest short film, was selected for the prestigious New Directors/New Films Festival 2007 in New York at the MoMA & the Lincoln Center and won awards at festivals in Bangkok, Boston and LA. 

 

                 Cast me if you can, Atsushi’s feature film debut, premiered at the 13th Shanghai International Film Festival Asian New Talent Competition. It has been released theatrically nation-wide in 16 cities in Japan and San Francisco, released also on Amazon and i-Tunes in North America in 2012 and screened on Russian, Chinese and Australian airlines, broadcast on 4 channels on Japanese television and published as a novel.

 

                Trick or Treat: I LOVE America!, Atsushi's collaborative satire with MEGWIN TV, which he wrote and directed for Halloween in 2014, had more than 77,000 viewers on its launching weeks and was selected for the official YouTube Japan channel. It was awarded Best Creative Idea and Best Cinematography at the Rome Web Awards in 2015.

 

                Yukata Cowboy ® , Atsushi's one-man online comedy series filmed with his iPhone, was awarded in Sicily, Miami, Bilbao, Dublin, Rome, Montreal, Seoul and Washington D.C., ranking #12 in Web Series World Cup 2015. It was theatrically released in Japan and also turned into a book.

 

               Mona Lisa Cowboy, the first spin-off series of Yukata Cowboy ®, premiered at Webfest Berlin in September 2017. It has also screened at UK Web Fest (London), Bilbao Seriesland (Spain), Rio Web Fest (Brazil) and Dub Web Fest (Ireland). The Japanese Embassy in Dublin has also endorsed it for their Ireland-Japan 60th Year Celebration in conjunction with the Dub Web Fest.  Atsushi was awarded Best Actor (Star AMETS) at Bilbao Seriesland 2017, and "Mona Lisa Cowboy" was awarded Special Jury Prize at DC Web Fest 2018.

 

              Lost & Found Cowboy, the second spin-off series of Yukata Cowboy ® was awarded Best Comedy TV Episode Award at Portland Comedy Film Festival, Best Pilot Award at Asia Web Awards 2019 and Best Editing Award at Apulia Web Fest (Italy). Lead actress/choreographer Kellie Holway was awarded Best Rising Star in at Seoul Web Fest 2019. Season 1 streams world-wide (except for Asia) via Twisted Mirror TV ranked #3 in viewership for Sept. 2020.

  

               Atsushi has also taught screenwriting and acting/directing workshops at YouTube Space Tokyo and has been invited as a guest speaker at various colleges and festivals. Most recently, Atsushi was awarded Michael Ajakwe Jr. Pioneer Award 2020 at the Marseille Web Fest in France for his contribution to the field of web series.