Chihiro Amano
Life and career. Amano was born on July 30, 1982. After five years working in the corporate world, she turned to film and made her debut with the 2009 "Sayonara Muffler" which was shown at the Cineastes Organization Osaka EX and other festivals. Her second film "Cast the Die!" competed at the 2010 PIA Film Festival. Amano's 2011 film "Snipping Girl" made its international premier at the 12th Japan Filmfest Hamburg in May 2011 and competed at the 2011 PIA Film Festival. In 2012, she released the short "The Confessions of Figaro" about four junior high school  boys curious about sex. The film won the Grand Prize Award and the Audience Award at the Shitamachi Comedy Film Festival in Tokyo and the Runnerup Prize at the 2012 Aichi International Women's Film Festival. It was also screened at the 15th International Women's Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea. Amano's 2012 short fantasy "Neverland in Gamagori" about an eleven-year-old boy's adventure debuted at the 4th Okinawa International Movie Festival. Her 2013 film depicting a family drama, "All Is Vanity", was shown at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. Amano is one of only  a handful of women directors in Japan. In a 2012 interview she said that she has had to take a part-time job to support her filmmaking but her "Striving to get ahead professionally" is probably the best way to "pave the way for more female directors in Japan." Amano made her commercial film debut with the May 2014 "No Touching At All" based on Kou Yoneda's "boys' love" manga of the same name.