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Born 1957 in Aomori Prefecture, and raised in Tokyo, Sato Makoto discovered documentary film when he visited Minamata as a student, and worked on Katori Naotaka’s The Innocent Sea. While touring Japan with the film, he met people who lived by the Agano River in Niigata and decided to make a film about them. Living with seven crew members for three years, Living on the River Agano was completed in 1992, and won a number of awards including the Runner-up Prize at YIDFF ’93. Following this, he made several films for TV. His work Artists in Wonderland (1998) screened at Japanese Panorama YIDFF ’99. That year he was appointed head instructor at the Film School of Tokyo, and 2001 became a professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design. At YIDFF 2001, he served as a juror for New Asian Currents and his films SELF AND OTHERS (2000) and Hanako (2001) were screened at that time. He spent one year living in London from August 2002 with support from the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Overseas Study Program for Artists. Recent publications include The Horizons of Documentary Film—To Understand the World Critically (2001) and Dozing London (2004; all works published by Gaifusha).

• SATO Makoto | Artists in Wonderland | Self and Others | Hanako | Memories of Agano | OUT OF PLACE