Mitani Koki

Kōki Mitani
participated in the Opening Event of the Tokyo International Film Festival (October 17, 2014)
Born	(1961-07-08) July 8, 1961 (age 55) Setagaya, Tokyo
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Playwright, screenwriter, actor, film director

Kōki Mitani (三谷 幸喜, Mitani Kōki^?, born July 8, 1961) is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after Taihō Kōki, the youngest sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics at Nihon University.

In an attempt to add his own character to his movies, as a director he takes most of his scenes with a one-scene=one-shot system, moving the camera around as opposed to cutting. He claims this comes from his experience in theatre, where there are of course, no cuts. Mitani does not use a computer.

Mitani liked watching TV dramas and puppetries of NHK in his childhood. Especially he was interested in the puppetries "Shin Hakkenden"(新八犬伝) and "Sangokushi"(三国志), jidaigekis as "Tenka Gomen" (天下御免) and "Tenka Dōdō" (天下堂々)　and Taiga Dramas "Ōgon no hibi"(黄金の日々).

He also liked and still likes the works featuring famous detectives includes the Series of Sherlock Holmes and adored Holmes as detective. He has whole volume of novels including pastiches, DVDs related to Sherlock Holmes and read all the novels again before adapting it to a puppetry whose setting is laid in a boarding school. And in his high school days, he planned to produce a film featuring a detective, loosely based on "And Then There Were None" and went on location to Enoshima, Kanagawa with his friends though it's unfinished.