Munefusa Shimohara

Munefusa Shimohara was born in Miyazaki, Japan, and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Munefusa is a master of short film, exploring themes of hopelessness, identity and coming to terms with loss of contemporary world. Munefusa's work certainly possesses the famous Japanese sensibility combined with profound lyricism and poetry, setting him apart from his contemporaries and helping place cinema on par with the best of the other arts. His education began in Japan, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from Nagasaki Prefecture University. He was always interested in gaining more experience through traveling and observing foreign cultures. This motivated him to study philosophy and travel even more to broaden his knowledge. Through these experiences, he began to learn English for communication purposes and realized that filmmaking is a medium of expression that represents his imagination well. Therefore, he moved to New York City in 2008 and furthered his education in film making by enrolling at the New York Film Academy. Upon his graduation, he interned at TK Digital, a Japanese production company based in Williamsburg, NY, and assisted in producing a car commercial for Subaru. He has also participated in various film shoots such as at Last Pictures Productions and Rusty Compass Productions. He also had an opportunity to produce his own short film called "Fragments of the World," which has been the officially selected for 'Best Experimental Shorts' at the Rome International Film Festival 2010.

In 2010, his original screenplay called "Flowing Yellow" was officially accepted for the Film Expo Asia, a short-film competition in Thailand, where Munefusa shot his film. The competition carried much major sponsorship, including Toyota, Thai-Air, and the Federation of National Film Association of Thailand."Flowing Yellow" was placed as the one of the top 30 film finalists and screened at the Siam-Paragon cultural center of Thailand. "Flowing Yellow" has been showcased across the world to present the majesty of Thai royal family.

Munefusa continues to be a very active and in-demand filmmaker whose reputation is exponentially growing across the U.S. and Asia. He is currently involved in a series of projects, as well as having independent short and feature films in the works. He is currently working on a new film called "After The Requiem" (scheduled for a release in 2012), in collaboration with cinematographer, Hiroshi Hara, and Rusty Compass Productions, frequent collaborators over the years.