ABOUT

My name is Kira and I’m a Japanese and American filmmaker, illustrator, and animator currently living in rural Nara Prefecture in Japan.

Having been raised in New York City with summers in rural Japan, I find that I gravitate towards the gray areas between conflicting cultures and ideas. As a result, I’m interested in telling stories that sit comfortably within those gray areas. I like being able to play with different mediums and genres to tell these kinds of stories, and specialize in incorporating tactile animation and experimental forms in documentary film.

プロフィール

キラ・松原（デイン） Kira Matsubara-Dane

日系アメリカ人の映像作家、イラストレーター、アニメーター。

アメリカ・ニューヨークに生まれ育ち、現在は奈良県在住。

ニューヨーク大学ティッシ・スクール・オブ・アート映画制作専攻科を卒業。サンダンス・インスティテュートによる「Ignite Fellowship」プログラムの2019年フェローでもある。

アニメーションを駆使した短編ドキュメンタリー「水子」は、トライベッカ・フィルム・インスティテュートのサポートを受け、正式にアカデミー賞への出品認定を受けた。

日本においてはVice News配給の複数の作品の監督、撮影、編集も手がけている。

近年ではアニメーションの手法や実験的な手法を取り入れたドキュメンタリー作品の創作に力を注いでいる。

I was selected as part of 2023 Berlinale Talents, and was a 2019 fellow of Sundance Institute’s Ignite Fellowship Program. I’m a member of the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc), the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective (BFC), and The Video Consortium.

My short film Mizuko (2019) was produced through the If/Then Shorts Program (Tribeca Film Institute, Field of Vision). The film received Special Jury Mentions at IDFA (2019) and SXSW (2020), a nomination for the IDA Awards, and Best Documentary Short at Atlanta Film Festival, qualifying the film for the Academy Awards. It was also briefly featured in series finale of the television series Better Things on FX/Hulu.

Outside of and informing my pursuits as an artist, I’m currently practicing and studying Tibetan Buddhism, taking lessons in the Tibetan language, learning how to grow flowers and vegetables, and slowly working on fixing up an old farmhouse in Japan.