is a Japanese-American filmmaker.

Early life

Born in Nagano to schoolteachers and raised in Chiba, Japan, Hirayanagi moved to the Los Angeles area in the early 1990s as a high school exchange student. She graduated from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

with a BA in theater arts. She went on to attend NYU

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

and graduated with a MFA in film production.

Career

While in graduate school, her second year project, ''Mo Ikkai'', won the Grand Prix at the 2012 Short Shorts Film Festival in Asia. Her thesis short film, '' Oh Lucy!'', received a Tisch's First Prize Wasserman Award at the 2014 First Run Festival, and also won more than 25 awards around the globe, including prizes at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

(2014),

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

(2015), and the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

(2014). Her feature-length version of '' Oh Lucy!'' was a recipient of the 2016 Sundance/NHK Award. On June 14, 2017, she was named one of the ″20 Rising Women Directors You Need to Know″ by IndieWire., and was nominated at the 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature. The project was funded by

Cathay Organisation Cathay Organisation Holdings Limited is one of Singapore's leading leisure and entertainment groups. It operates the first THX cinema hall and digital cinema in Singapore. The group has operations in both Singapore and Malaysia. Current Subs ...

CEO Meileen Cho. Hirayanagi was invited to join the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

in 2018. On April 29, 2021, Hirayanagi was set to direct the film adaptation of A. Lee Martinez’s novel ''The Last Adventure of Constance Verity'' for

Legendary Entertainment Legendary Entertainment, LLC (also known as Legendary Pictures or simply Legendary) is an American mass media and film production company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull. The company has often collaborated with the major stu ...

with

Awkwafina Nora Lum (born June 2, 1988), known professionally as Awkwafina (), is an American actress, comedian and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She then released her debut album, ''Yellow Ra ...

set to star. In March 2022, it was announced that Hirayanagi would serve as showrunner of the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

original series ''

Modern Love Tokyo is a Japanese romantic comedy anthology streaming television series. It is based on the American television series ''Modern Love'', which itself is based on the weekly column of the same name published by ''The New York Times.'' The series b ...

''.

Personal life

Hirayanagi is a black belt in

Kyokushin Karate is a style of karate originating in Japan. It is a Full contact karate, full-contact style of stand-up fighting and is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline, and hard training. Kyokushin Kaikan is the martial arts organizat ...

, and came in 3rd place in the Los Angeles Cup Women's Category. Atsuko currently resides in

Noe Valley, San Francisco Noe Valley ( ; originally spelt Noé) is a neighborhood in the central part of San Francisco, California. It is named for Don José de Jesús Noé, noted 19th-century Californio statesman and ranchero, who owned much of the area and served as ...

, CA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirayanagi, Atsuko Filmmakers from California American artists of Japanese descent Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Nagano (city) People from Chiba (city) Japanese women film directors Japanese emigrants to the United States Tisch School of the Arts alumni