Kosai Sekine Film Director

Filmmaker/film director. Director Kosai Sekine’s sophisticated and witty sensibility is evident throughout all his work. His outsized creativity and storytelling stand poised at the crest of a new wave of branded and interactive content in Japan’s creative community, from feature films to short films, tvcs, music videos, and art installations.

He was born and raised in Tokyo with both parents in the modeling art field. During his university years at Sofia‘s Department of Philosophy, he took on an exchange program in the US, where his interest in photography flourished. That was when he wanted to become a filmmaker. After obtaining his degree, he started working at an advertising film production company as a production assistant.

Sekine made his debut in 2005 with the much-talked-about “Right Place”, which won him a Best Foreign Film in New York Short Film Festival. In the following year, he won the Young Director Grand Prix award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity along with 3 Golds for his trailer he directed for the Raindance Film Festival. Furthermore, he ranked no 1 in the world by shot’s Young Directors Award.

In 2008, he earned his reputation by directing numerous short films, tvcs, and music videos nationally and internationally. He joined Stink: a film production company that houses various offices throughout the world. In 2014, he won the Cannes Lions Titanium Grand Prix with “Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1984”, which became the most award-winning advertising film in a single year, in the world.

In 2018, he directed his first feature film, “Love, At Least”, based on the best-selling novel by Yukiko Motoya, about a girl with hypersomnia and her struggles in life. He won Silver at Shindo Kaneto Young Directors Award as well as Jury Award at Kinotayo Film Festival in France. In the same year, he released his feature-length documentary film “Tower of the Sun”. It depicts Japan’s long-term structural problem, which has been in dispute since the Osaka Expo.

Along with his feature films and various projects, Sekine has been active with his social engagement art collective, “NOddIN”. He has been creating art with social themes; nuclear issues, anti-war, refugee issues, etc. He is also a founding member of a film production called NION.

Awards

Feature Films

Love At Least

  • Kinoyayo Film Festival: Jury Award
  • Shindo Kaneto Award: Silver (Kosai Sekine)
  • Takasaki Film Festival: Best Female Actor (Syuri)
  • Japan Academy Awards: New Actor Award (Syuri)
  • Osaka Cinema Festival: Best Female Actor (Syuri)
  • Mainichi Film Awards: Best Female Actor Nominees (Syuri)
  • Miura Awards: Best Cinematographer (Toyotaro Shigemori)
  • Short Films

    LifeCard - Here, my Life

  • ACC CM Festival: Silver
  • Adidas Originals - Safety Wear - Split Up Service

  • Cannes Lions Film: Silver
  • New York Festivals: Gold
  • Saatchi&Saatchi NEW DIRECTORS SHOWCASE: Showcased
  • RIGHT PLACE

  • Young Director’s Award: Best Short Film
  • Adfest New Directors “Remarkable 5”: Japanese Representative
  • New York Festival Film and Video: Gold
  • New York Short Film Festival: Best Foreign Film
  • Raindance Film Festival Diesel: Grand Prix
  • RESFEST: World Tour Showcase
  • onedotzero10: World Tour Showcase
  • Palm Springs International Short Film Festival: Official Showcase
  • Edinburgh Film Festival: Official Showcase
  • Los Angeles International Short Film Festival: Official Showcase
  • Music Video

    The Fin. - NIGHT TIME

  • Space Shower Music Video Award / Best Video
  • Tamio Okuda - Kaze ha Nishi kara

  • Space Shower Music Video Award / Best Video
  • Jemapur - Maledict Car

  • ONE SHOW Broadcast Design: Gold
  • Japan Media Arts Festival: Special Jury Award
  • Commercials

    Lucido - Mask

  • ACC CM Festival: Bronze
  • TOYOTA - H.H. - 3rd Episode

  • ACC CM Festival: Bronze
  • LifeCard - Here, my Life

  • ACC CM Festival: Silver
  • Honda - Ayrton Senna 1989 Sound of Honda - Internavi

  • Cannes Lions Titanium: Grand Prix
  • Cannes Lions Film: Gold
  • Cannes Lions Cyber: Gold
  • D&AD Sound Design: Black Pencil
  • Adfest Film Craft: Grand Prix
  • Adfest Integrated: Grand Prix
  • BOVA: Grand Prix
  • Japan Media Arts Festival / Entertainment Division: Grand Prix
  • ACC CM Festival: Gold
  • TOYOTA - H.H. - 1st Episode Side A

  • ACC CM Festival: Gold
  • Nike - Free Run Plus - Nike Music Shoe

  • Cannes Lions Film Craft: Silver
  • Cannes Lions Film: Bronze
  • Fuji Xerox - Balloon

  • ACC CM Festival: Gold
  • Adidas Originals - Safety Wear - Split Up Service

  • Cannes Lions Film: Silver
  • New York Festivals: Gold
  • Saatchi&Saatchi NEW DIRECTORS SHOWCASE: Showcased
  • Raindance Film Festival - Daughter supported by Diesel

  • Special Young Director’s Award Prize: Grand Prix
  • Young Director’s Award Best TVC (Non-European Broadcast)
  • New York Festivals: Finalist
  • Adfest Best Director: Nominated
  • Arts

    evala / See By Your Ears - Sea, See, She Invisible Cinema - Trailer

  • Japan Media Arts Festival - Art Division / Excellence Award
  • Contact

    Tokyo
    GLASSLOFT
    Management
    NION
    Production
    London, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris,
    Prague, Moscow, Shanghai, Beijing
    Istanbul
    Personal Contact