Christopher Makoto Yogi is an American filmmaker from Hawai‘i., best known for his feature films ''August at Akiko's'' (2018) and '' I Was a Simple Man'' (2021), which premiered at major international film festivals and received critical recognition.

Career

Yogi’s debut feature film, ''August at Akiko’s'', premiered at the

International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

in 2018 and received positive reviews. The film stars Alex Zhang Hungtai and was released theatrically by Factory25. It was listed among “The Best Films of 2019” by

Richard Brody Richard Brody (born January 22, 1958) is an American film critic, filmmaker and author. Background Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York. He is Jewish and has personally identified as an atheist. Brody attended Princeton University, receiving a B ...

in ''The New Yorker'' His subsequent feature, '' I Was a Simple Man'', starring

Constance Wu Constance Wu (; born March 22, 1982) is an American actress. Wu's breakthrough role came with the ABC sitcom '' Fresh Off the Boat'' (2015–2020), which earned her four nominations at the Critics' Choice Television Awards. For leading the roma ...

, premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the

2021 Sundance Film Festival The 2021 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 28 to February 3, 2021. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 15, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Utah, the festival combined in-person screenings at the Ray ...

. The project participated in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs and was released theatrically by

Strand Releasing Strand Releasing is an American film production company founded in 1989 and is based in Culver City, California. The company has distributed over 300 auteur-driven titles from acclaimed international and American directors such as Apichatpong W ...

. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the

San Diego Asian Film Festival The San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) is an annual film festival in San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, ...

, the Made in Hawai‘i Award at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival, and was listed as the fourth-best film of 2021 by ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' Yogi’s experimental work has screened at

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

and Flaherty NYC. His short films include ''Occasionally, I Saw Glimpses of Hawai‘i'' and ''Obake (Ghosts)''.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yogi, Christopher Makoto Filmmakers from Hawaii American experimental filmmakers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people