KIFUNE Tokumitsu

Born in 1959 in Kanagawa Prefecture. He graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at Tokyo Zokei University, where he majored in painting. In 2001 he was appointed a professor at the same university. In 1979 he formed the unit IKIF together with KIFUNE Sonoko. They began creating animations and continuously released experimental animations and video installations. From the late 1980s he began engaging with CG animation and founded IKIF+ in 1997. Thereafter, he participated in the creation of the 3DCG animations for Metropolis, Innocence, Steam Boy and Sky Crawler, among others. He served as 3D director for the NHK Educational Petit Anime Series Bu-, ba-, ga- (1995-1997), BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE (2000), and Tachiguishi-Retsuden (2006). He participated in Doraemon the Movie as creator of the opening animation as well as 3D director and supervisor from 2007 to 2009. He is a board member of the Japan Animation Association and a member of the executive committee of the Inter College Animation Festival (ICAF). He is also a member of the Japan Society for Animation Studies, the Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences, and Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (ASIFA).