Masami Kawai is a Los Angeles-born filmmaker who lives in Eugene, Oregon. She’s of Ryukyuan descent from the island of Amami. Her work integrates issues of race, indigeneity, class, gender, and what it means to be an immigrant/settler in the United States. Kawai’s work has screened at various venues, including the Rotterdam Film Festival, LACMA, and Indie Memphis. Her film TIDES won Best Narrative Short at the Northwest Film Forum’s Film Festival and the Eastern Oregon Film Festival. Her film ZONA won Best Narrative Short at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
She’s an Assistant Professor of Filmmaking at the University of Oregon. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College, where she focused on Visual Arts, Radical Pedagogy, and Post-Colonial Studies. She received her MFA in Directing from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television.
Currently, her first feature has garnered support from institutions such as Flies Collective, Gotham Film & Media Institute (previously IFP), Cine Qua Non screenwriting lab, Northwest Film Center, and the University of Oregon.
She was also a 2023 Sundance Directing and Screenwriting Lab fellow.
