BIOGRAPHY B I OG R A P H Y
Naotomo Umewaka is an actor, filmmaker and editor. He was born in Tokyo, into a traditional Noh (Japanese theater) family that carries 600 years of lineage in theater. Naotomo debuted at the National Noh theater at the age of 3. He has lived in Japan, London & America and he speaks English, Japanese and some Arabic. After studying film at Temple University, Naotomo has made films in various genres: short fiction films, comedies, and documentaries.
He has filmed and edited videos for Red Bull, Current Television, W+K Tokyo, and MXTV. His film 'Nothing Else Matters' won the Critic's prize from Pratt Institute in New York and he received a special mention from the Foreign Correspondence Club in Tokyo for his film 'Lifesaver'.
He traveled to the U.S. to film a reality show. He is currently editing a Hollywood basketball film 'Playin For Money'. His films have been selected by The Hannover Film Festival, The Queens International Film Festival and
The Bradford International Film Festival. He has also shown his work at the Slought Foundation in Philadelphia. He has visited 34 countries and is always
open to exploring new places.
In 2011 his video entry was nominated amongst 75,000 video entries for Ridley Scott's film "Life in a Day". Video footage of five people in Japan were selected. "Life in a Day" was screened at Sundance Film Festival on January 27th 2011, and has already been viewed by 5 million around the world.
He has volunteered to film for three months NGO, Peace Boat's fourth Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World. He is currently editing a film that captures a journey that starts from Yokohama with eight hibakusha (Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb) survivors who have been delegated by the Japanese Government as "Ambassadors for a Nuclear-Free World". This documentary will unravel this voyage to eighteen ports in seventeen countries and culminate in the union between the survivors of the atomic bomb and Holocaust survivors in Poland.
DOCUMENTARIES DO C U M E N TA R Y
"Nothing Else Matters" (9 Minutes) won the Critic's prize
at a film festival at Pratt Institute. Story of a drug addict.
"Lifesaver" (4 minutes) TV report. It received a special
mention from Foreign Correspondence Club in Tokyo.
