Makoto Shinkai Bio
Born in Nagano Prefecture, Japan in 1973, Makoto Shinkai made his commercial debut with the short film he produced on his own, “Voices of a Distant Star.”
Since then, every project he directed has been very well-received, including the 2004 “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” which won the Animated Feature awards at the 59th Mainichi Film Concours; the 2007 “5 Centimeters Per Second” which won the Best Animated Feature Film awards at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards; the 2011 “Children Who Chase Lost Voices,” which won the 8th Annual CICAF “Golden Monkey King” award; and the 2013 “The Garden of Words,” which won the Best Feature Animation award at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film.
Recent activities
More recently, his 2016 film “Your Name.” became an international sensation and social phenomenon, smashing Japanese box office records, and winning several awards at the 40th Japan Academy Film Prize, including Excellent Prize for Animation Film (”Your Name.”), Excellent Prize for Director (Makoto Shinkai), Excellent Prize for Screenplay (Makoto Shinkai), and Excellent Prize for Music(RADWIMPS), as well as Best Animated Film at the 49th Sitges Film Festival and the 42nd Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animated Feature.
Makoto was quick to follow up that success with his 2019 picture, “Weathering with You,” which drew over 10 million people to the theaters and represented Japan for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. Furthermore, in India, it garnered more than 50,000 signatures petitioning its theatrical release, which made it the first Japanese original animation to achieve a commercial theatrical release in India.
His most recent film, “Suzume” was theatrically released in Japan on November 11, 2022.
