Toshimichi Saito is a filmmaker, whose life, education and career have developed across different continents and cultures: from Osaka to New York City to Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City. He received a M.F.A. in filmmaking from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. His thesis short film, A Warm Spell (2014), won 15 awards worldwide, including the Grand Prix at Tehran International Short Film Festival, the Grand Prix at New Directors Film Festival in Tokyo, the Best Narrative Short at Queens World Film Festival and the Best National Short Award at Sapporo International Short Film Festival.
After working as an assistant editor at Spike Lee's production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, he joined AOI Pro. In February 2018, he began working at Viewfinder Media in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which is AOI Pro.'s affiliated company. Regardless of length or genre, his meticulous craft and sophisticated aesthetics serve to achieve truthful depiction of human behavior as well as humanitarian storytelling. His short film Under the Black Dress (2017) was released in theaters across Japan as part of CINEMA FIGHTERS.
