Mamoru Oshii is a filmmaker and writer known for the legendary sci-fi films Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Oshii was educated at Tokyo Gakugei University and later worked on storyboards for Tatsunoko Productions. As a director, Oshi has been nominated for the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion.
Satoshi Kon was born on October 12, 1963. While in college at the Musashino Art University, Kon made his debut as a manga artist with the short manga Toriko (1984) and earned a runner-up spot in Kodansha's 10th Annual Tetsuya Chiba Awards. Afterward, he found work as Katsuhiro Otomo's assistant. Kon is credited by some, including TIME magazine, as one of the faces most responsible for bringing Japanese pop-culture to America. His feature-length films Perfect Blue, Paprika, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers were all distributed in theaters across the United States and saw critical acclaim worldwide, earning a number of awards in the process. Satoshi Kon was listed as one of TIME magazine's 2010 People of the Year. He was also winner of the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya 2003 Best Animated Film Academy Award submission 2003 for Millennium Queen; and winner of the Public's Choice Award, Montreal New Cinema Award, and the Best Feature Film Award at the 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival for Paprika. Kon died on August 24, 2010, at the age of 46.
