©Courtesy of Laura Bianchi
Nobuhiro Hosoki grew up watching American films since he was a kid; he decided to go to the United States thanks to seeing the artistry of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange.” After graduating from film school, he worked as an assistant director on TV Tokyo’s program called “Morning Satellite” at the New York branch office but he didn’t give up on his interest in cinema. He became a film reporter for via Yahoo Japan News. In that role, he writes news articles, picks out headliners for Yahoo News, as well as interviewing Hollywood film directors, actors, and producers working in the domestic circuit in the USA. He also does production interviews for Japanese distributors of American films and for in-theater on-sale programs. He is now the editor-in-chief of Cinemadailyus.com while continuing his work for Japan.
The visually mesmerizing and deeply reflective films of Kimi Takesue traverse genres—including documentary, fiction, and experimental forms—to explore the charged spaces between observer and observed. Often centered on the act of travel, Takesue’s work follows tourists and locals as they navigate shared yet unequal terrain. In evocative shorts and acclaimed features like Where Are You Taking Me?, 95 and 6 to Go, and Onlookers, she turns an unblinking lens on cross-cultural encounters, revealing the subtle tensions, curiosities, and power dynamics that shape how we see and are seen across differences. Through her immersive long takes, Takesue invites audiences into moments of intimacy and unease that continually challenge our assumptions.-The Criterion Channel
“As artists we all have our private markers for true success. Criterion is the home for so many of my cinema heroes so to screen amongst the greats is particularly meaningful. I’m excited for audiences to have access to a body of work, in different genres created over the years that reflect different periods of my life. Some of the films are very intimate and handmade, while others are produced with a large crew on 35mm. I hope audiences will enjoy discovering the connective threads between films–and also the points of divergence—ultimately, all of the films are in conversation with one another.”-Kimi Takesue