Nao Nakazawa

Originally hailing from Nagano, Japan, Nao moved to California in 1996 to study film. First earning a BA in film & digital media from UC Santa Cruz, and later a MFA in cinema from SF State University, Nao has spent more than 25 years working on film and television productions throughout San Francisco Bay Area and Japan. Nao has been devoting to make his own films of many genres, such as documentaries, fictions and animations. For the past 12 years, he has been creating experimental works that feature live performances. 

Nao is a freelance filmmaker whose versatile production skills include directing, producing, editing, location sound engineering, sound design, videography, and assistant camera. Currently, Nao works for foreign TV and film productions in Japan as a fixer, production coordinator, translator, sound recordist, and videographer. He has worked for documentary film productions for award winning directors such as Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel (Venice Horizons Award - Special Jury Prize Winner, Caniba, 2017, US&France), Academy Award Nominee Sam Green (The Love Songs of R. Buckminster Fuller, 2012, US), Yung Chang (LA Film Festival - Best Short Documentary, Gatekeeper, 2016, Canada), Anastasia Kirillova (In the Shadows of Love, in production, Sweden), Kyoko Miyake (Tokyo Idols, 2017, UK), and Steven Dhoedt (Sunrise Kids, in production, Belgium), Gaspard Kuentz (untitled documentary feature, in production, France). He has also worked with Amazon Prime Making the Cut, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,  Animal Planet, and Amazing Race on CBS.

Also Nao is a musician. Trained classically, he plays violin and mandolin and utilize effecters and loopers to create wide variety of music. He has been collaborating with numerous bands and musicians. He is one of the founding members of Hernandez Hideaway from Oakland, California, specialized in Klezmer and other old world music. He is also one of the experimental improvised music duo, Alien on Vacation. In Japan, Nao has been a supporting member of The Factors since their debut in 2013, actively recording and performing with them. Recently, Nao collaborated with play productions in Japan providing live music accompaniments.

Selected Filmography:

The Birth of California Shamisen (2006)

Portraits of Oakland (2008)

Vignettes in the Mist (2009)

Bolon (2010)

Merzbau: A Portrait of Kurt Schwitters (2011)

Mitsuju (2014)

In The Sea of Trees (2020) , A short documentary. A bonus material for Caniba Bluray released in the U.S.

Izugahara (2024)

EDUCATION

San Francisco State University, MFA: Cinema 2014

UC Santa Cruz, BA: Film and Digital Media 2001

AWARDS

2011 Leo Diner Memorial Scholarship

2010 Robin Eickman Cinema Study Scholarship

2004 Winner - Telly Awards

2003 Winner-Telly Awards, The Communicator Awards, Videographer Awards, Vision Award

2001 The Sara E. Mathews Endowment for Foreign Student

VIDEOGRAPHER/EDITOR/SOUND/PRODUCER

THE INVISIBLE SANCTUARY (2018) Sound Recordist. Directed by Sayaka Mizuno

CANIBA (2017) Sound Recordist & Associate Producer. Directed by Verena Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor

TOKYO IDOL (2016) Additional Camera. Directed by Kyoko Miyake

JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS (2016) Camera & Editor.  Produced by San Francisco Modern Art Museum

GATEKEEPER (2016) Associate Producer. Directed by Yung Chang

PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY (2015) Producer. Directed by Natalie Tsui

SALTWATER (2014) Background Sound Design. Directed by Lisa Swenson

LIVIDITY (2013) Sound Recordist/Sound Design. Directed by Robyn Kopp

BE HOME SOON (2012) Editor. Directed by Melissa Howden 

THE LOVE SONG OF R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER(2012) Sound Recordist. Directed by Sam Green

UNFINISHED ARTIST (2012) Sound Design, Foley, ADR. Directed by Josh Lehman

BRIDGE (2011) Location Sound, Sound Design. Directed by Feng Shiyan

LUZ (2010) Assistant Camera, Foley. Directed by Javier Briones

LINE BREAKS (2007) Editor. Produced by Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Willie Ney

HELLO RESTAURANTS (2007 – 2008) Videographer. TV Series by Tokyo TV