Known for Directing
Katsuhito Ishii is a Japanese film director. After graduating from Musashino Art University, Katsuhito Ishii got a job at Tohokushinsha Film and began directing commercials in 1992, receiving numerous awards in this field. His first short film The Promise of August, shot in 1995, went on to receive the Japanese Film Grand Prix in the Fantastic Video Section of the 1995 Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. He made his feature debut with Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl, based on the visual novel by cult manga artist Minetaro Mochizuki and starring regular collaborator Tadanobu Asano. Ishii quickly followed his success with another box office hit, Party 7 (2000), which featured Masatoshi Nagase, Yoshio Harada and Tadanobu Asano among others. Between the years 2001 and 2002, he created a series of short films including the 3D animated dialogue piece Hal & Bons and the 2D animated space opera Trava Fist Planet. Among other commercials and select TV projects including the short Black Room which starred Takuya Kimura, and Music Power Go Go!, He collaborated with Production I.G for the animation sequence of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1. In 2004, his fourth feature film The Taste of Tea won Best Feature Film at the Hawaii International Film Festival. In 2006, he co-directed the feature film Funky Forest with fellow Japanese film makers and old school friends Shunichiro Miki and ANIKI. He founded his own production company, Nice Rainbow, in October 2006.
Born
December 31, 1966 (age 59)
Birthplace
Niigata, Japan
Filmography
50 films, 10 shows


Tales of the Bizarre: 35th Anniversary Special
2025
country: Japan
To commemorate the 35th anniversary of the popular omnibus drama "Tales of the Unusual," in which Tamori serves as the storyteller, "Tales of the Tales of the Unusual 35th Anniversary Special: Legendary Masterpieces One Night Only Revival Edition" will be broadcast on Fuji TV's "Saturday Premium" slot (Saturday 9pm) on May 31st. The program will feature five of Tamori's most famous works from the series' past. The programs that will be broadcast on the 31st are as follows: "BLACK ROOM" (broadcast in 2001, starring Takuya Kimura) "The Night Train Man" (broadcast in 2002, starring Ren Osugi) "Locker" (broadcast in 1990, starring Yuji Oda) "Bijokan" (broadcast in 2005, starring Satoshi Tsumabuki) "Memories of Love, Don't Stop" (broadcast in 2019, starring Yuki Saito)


Norioka Workshop
2022 · 30m
country: Japan
The story set in the "house" designed by director Ishii is an unpredictable development with tricks drawn into the unique Ishii world everywhere


Gamera
2015 · 4m
country: Japan
GAMERA is a kaiju short film first released as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Gamera's debut film.


Hello! Junichi
2014 · 1h 33m
country: Japan
An elementary student named Junichi is having trouble returning an eraser he borrowed from his secret crush, Maeda. With the support and encouragement of rookie teacher Anna, Junichi gets over his shyness and starts a band with his classmates.


Tales of the Bizarre: 2013 Autumn Special
2013
country: Japan


Smuggler
2011 · 1h 54m
country: Japan
To pay off his loan shark, failed actor Ryōsuke Kinuta is forced to smuggle dead bodies – and one live elite assassin – in the middle of the night.


Sorasoi
2008 · 1h 28m
country: Japan
A group of college students staying in a hostel close to a beach, practice their dance routine in a training camp for an upcoming dance competition.


My Darling of the Mountains
2008 · 1h 34m
country: Japan
In the mountain hot springs of Izu, Japan, a love triangle is waiting to happen. It is the late 1930s when the paths of a stunning woman fleeing Tokyo, a handsome bachelor and a blind masseur cross.
Hokuro Kyodai Full Throttle!!!!
Hokuro Kyodai Full Throttle!!!!
2007 · 36m
country: Japan
One of the most wildly creative filmmakers working in Japan today, Ishii Katsuhito seems to take joy in dropping whimsical, unpredictable works onto unsuspecting audiences. His last film Nice no Mori (a.k.a. Funky Forest), an omnibus offering co-directed with Ishimine Hajime and Miki Shinichiro, was an ode to pure, unadulterated insanity. The Mole Brothers and their Beatles hairdos serve up plenty of chaos and laughter in this riotous seven-episode series that is just about required viewing for fans of the film. Ishii returns once again to his animation roots, and the results are as head-scratchingly brilliant as ever. This release comes with the seven animated shorts, Nice no Mori trailer, and Hokuro Brothers Full Throttle!!!! making of and filmography.


NEW HAL&BONS
2006 · 44m
country: Japan
A theatrical version of the laid-back CG animated series HAL & BONS, which gained attention through its serialization in the DVD magazine Grasshoppa! beginning in 2001. Hal and Bons, a pair of dogs living on the planet Himadama, spend their days happily drinking beer and enjoying a carefree life. One day, a talking piece of mochi named Mochi-kun arrives to interview them and ends up staying as an unwanted houseguest, leading to a series of unusual events.


Funky Forest: The First Contact
2005 · 2h 30m
country: Japan
An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother, his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother.


The Taste of Tea
2004 · 2h 23m
country: Japan
A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.


Smap Short Films
2001 · 44m
country: Japan
Short films by top CM directors and CG creators: MUSIC POWER GO! GO! ダモン君の巻; BUS PANIC!!!; GAME SHINGO; 治療; Good-bye, cruel world; ROLLING BOMBER SPECIAL; 菅原さん ・コンセント ・トイレ ・のれない ・脱出不可能. Produced for and aired together as TV special of SMAPxSMAP


Tales of the Bizarre: SMAP Special
2001 · 2h 5m
country: Japan
Consisting of 5 stories: 1. Extra Synopsis: A man decides to go against a society whose every action and exchange of dialogue has already been prewritten in the screenplay of life. 2. 13-banme no Kyaku (Guest no. 13) Synopsis: A short-tempered man gets his hair cut at a strange barber shop only to find that he cannot leave before going through a certain process. 3. Black Room Synopsis: A son returns home from America to find his hometown shrouded in black and his parents behaving very strangely. 4. Boku wa Tabi o Suru (I'm Taking a Trip) Synopsis: A man’s older sister goes on a trip without realizing the terrifying truth. 5. Otona Juken (Adult Test) Synopsis: A young man must prove that he is truly an adult through a series of real life scenario tests.


Party 7
2000 · 1h 44m
country: Japan
Seven characters, introduced at the start of the film, get thrown together into the same hotel room: a thief who's stolen a suitcase of money from the mob, his ex-girlfriend, her obsessive boyfriend, the mob soldier sent to retrieve the briefcase, another mobster sent to kill them, master voyeur Captain Banana and his new apprentice, The Mister Yellow. Who will end up with the money?


Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl
1999 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
In dreamlike mountain scenery, Toshiko makes a daring escape from her sexually warped Uncle Sonezaki. Fortunately, she met Samehada as she runs for her life, which is also escaping from some slayers. What follows is a wild chase that leads the audience into a comically violent world.


Promise of August
1995 · 50m
country: Japan
Three college girls arrive in the countryside in search of an area where marijuana grows. Hitchhiking, they stop the car of a suicidal man, who falls in love with one of the girls at first sight.