ANDRÉ HAYATO SAITO
40, japanese-brazilian, film director/screenwriter
André Hayato Saito is a Japanese-Brazilian screenwriter and director.
Since 2019, Saito has been working on a short film trilogy that embraces his Japanese-Brazilian roots, delving into themes of identity, life and death cycles, and ancestrality. The first short film of the sequence was "KOKORO TO KOKORO", a short documentary selected for the 40th Uruguay Int’l Film Festival, 24th Rio de Janeiro Int'l Film Festival, Roma Short Film Festival (Best Short Documentary), Tokyo Int’l Short Film Festival (Honorable Mention). The second, "WIND OF GOLD", a docufiction, premiered at the 46th Moscow Int’l Film Festival and was also screened at the 31st Sheffield Doc Fest, 20th FEST – New Directors | New Films and 35th Kinoforum: São Paulo Int'l Short Film Festival.
The third one, "AMARELA", is a fiction selected for the Official Short Film Competition at the 77th Festival de Cannes, the 49th TIFF, 45th Habana Film Festival (Best Short Film - Premio Coral Especial), 47th Clermont-Ferrand, 42nd Festival Tous Courts (Grand Prix), 26th Rio Int'l Film Festival, among others. It was also featured in a question on the 2025 entrance exam (Vestibular 2025) of UNESP, one of Brazil’s largest universities.
All these short films will lead to his debut feature film entitled "YELLOW CHRYSANTHEMUM", which continues to explore these themes. Currently in the funding stage, the project has been selected for several labs and markets such as Torino Feature Lab 2024 (where it won the Production Award), Cannes Focus COPRO 2024, Ontario Creates (IFF) 2022, TIFF Filmmaker Lab 2021, Shanghai Film Market 2021, Florianopolis Audiovisual Mercosul (FAM) 2021, and was also a semifinalist at FRAPA 2021, a famous screenplay contest in Brazil.
In recent years, Saito has been selected for other important labs like Berlinale Talents Buenos Aires 2022, Interaction: Doc Workshop 2023, and Playlab's Apichatpong immersion 2023, in addition to teaching directing classes at the Beijing Film Academy. He was also invited to be one of the creative mentors of the "Amplifica Cine" program, which empowers 10 promising young filmmakers from the Sao Paulo outskirts.
FILMOGRAPHY:
TBD: Yellow Chrysanthemum I feature film (funding stage)
// Torino Feature Lab, 2024 (Production Award Winner)
// Cannes FocusCoPro, 2024
// Ontario Creates International Financing Forum 2022
// Berlinale Talents - Buenos Aires, 2022
// TIFF Filmmaker Lab, 2021
// FAM Production Lab, 2021
// SIFF - Shangai International Film Festival, 2021 - Market
// FRAPA, 2021 - Script Award - Semifinalist
// Hubert Bals, 2020 - Script Development - Shortlist
2024: AMARELA | short fiction
// 77th Cannes Film Festival - Short Film Competition
// 49th Toronto International Film Festival - Short Film Competition
// 47th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
// 45th Habana Film Festival (Best Short Film - Premio Coral Especial)
// 42nd Festival Tous Courts (FRANCE): Grand Prix!
// 26th Rio International Film Festival
// 2nd phase of the UNESP (one of the biggest Brazilian Universities) Entrance Exam Citation - Vestibular 2025
// 2nd Alice nella Città (ITALY): Best Actress
// 45th Manaki Brothers (MACEDONIA): Best Cinematography
// 36th Aguilar Film Festival (SPAIN): Best Feminine Performance
// 14th International Crime and Punishment (TURKEY): Best Short Film
// 16th Lobo Film Fest (BRAZIL): Honorable Mention
2023: Vento Dourado | short docufiction
// 46th Moscow International Film Festival
// 31st Sheffield Doc Fest 2024
// 20th FEST: New Directors New Films 2024
// 35th Kinoforum: São Paulo International Short Film Festival 2024
2022: In Silence | short fiction (in post-production)
// Selected by the public fund PROAC SP 2021 - Production
2022: Kokoro to Kokoro | short documentary
// 40th Uruguay International Film Festival, 2022
// 24th Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, 2022
// Roma Short Film Festival (best short documentary), 2022
// Tokyo International Short Film Festival (Honorable Mention), 2022
// 14th Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival, 2022
2021: Amanacy | branded content
// Ciclope Latino Festival, 2021
// Petropolis Film Festival, 2021
2019: The Hunt | branded content
2017: Luz | short fiction
// 29th Festival Cinélatino in Toulouse, 2017
2013: Tom Sadly | short fiction
// Heartland Film Festival (US), 2012
// Mama Film Festival, 2013 - Jury Award (Best Short Film)
// Biarritz Film Festival, 2013 - Opening night
// New York Film Festival, 2013- Best Original Storyline
// Corti da Sogni, Ravenna Film Festival and Milano Film Festival, 2013
// FEST: New Directors New Films, 2013
// Moscow International Film Festival, 2013
// 8th Brazilian Film in Scandinavia, 2013
// Chicago International Children's Festival, 2013
2011: Hélio Leites | short documentary
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