The master of Japanese genre films KUROSAWA Kiyoshi suggested the fresh paradigm for Asian genre (especially horror) films grafting auteuristic aesthetics into popular genre films. KUROSAWA Kiyoshi born in Kobe in 1955 and started his directing career with 8mm films at the film club "SPP" while in university. He was an assistant director for the Japanese director SOMAI Shinji in the early 80's. He debuted as a director with the pink film “Kandagawa Wars” in 1983 and became widely known with his 1985 film “The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl”. Since then, with the science fiction “Sweet Home” and the television series about the Yakuza “Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself”, he has expanded his field of directing through experiments with various genre and media. His surreal thriller “Cure”(1997) earned him international acclaim. The major works of KUROSAWA include: “Charisma”(1999) which was invited to the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes; “Pulse”(2001), an apocalyptic horror captured the collapse of mankind and civilization, “License to Live”(1999), “Doppelganger”(2003) and “Bright Future”(2003). His recent film “Tokyo Sonata” won the jury prize at Cannes 2008. Since his debut in 1983, the director KUROSAWA has directed a number of films exposing his consistent perspective on the absurdity of contemporary Japanese society in various ways which cannot be defined as an established genre. His films deal with universal issues within contemporary society transcending the limit of locality as Japan, and along with his vigorous directing career, he is a pioneer for the film education of the next generation at the Film School of Tokyo. KUROSAWA Kiyoshi as the 5th dean of the Asian Film Academy 2009 is the director who established himself as the master in the line between auteurism and popular cinema. KUROSAWA will be sharing the paradigm with the young filmmakers who will observe the present state where commercial value threatens artistic value and handing down the master's wisdom who has preserved universal value, while maintaining the particularity of locality.

Director PARK Ki-yong's feature directorial debut “Motel Cactus”(1997) received The New Currents Award at Pusan Int'l Film Festival, The FIPRESCI award at Rotterdam Int'l Film Festival and The Jury Prize at Fribourg Int'l Film Festival. His second endeavor “Camel(s)”(2001) which presented a deep understanding of digital arts won The Grand Prix and The SAA Script Award at Fribourg Int'l Film Festival. He has also produced “To the Starry Island”(1993), “Cinema on the Road”(1995), Korean Part for the Century of Cinema Series and “JANG Sunwoo’s Variations”(2000). He has been the Executive Director of the Korean Academy of Film Arts since 2001 and the Co-Director of Cinema Digital Seoul with Critic CHUNG Sung-il since 2007. He served as a member of the faculty for the 1st AFA in 2005 and has been the Deputy Dean of AFA since 2006. He will aid the AFA Dean and coordinate overall proceedings at AFA.

The director HO Yuhang, a leading figure of the new current in contemporary Malaysian cinema, studied engineering at Iowa State University, but persued film-making after graduation. He shot commercials in the mid 1990's but in 2000 his film directing career began with the Malaysian documentary "Semangat Insan: Masters of Tradition" highlighting the need to preserve Malaysia's traditional art forms. He then made his feature film directorial debut in the 2003 film "Min," a film about an adopted girl searching for her birth mother, wining the Special Jury Award at the Nantes Three Continents Festival. In 2004 he directed "Sanctuary" and received the New Currents Award - Special Mention at the 2004 Pusan International Film Festival, and the NETPAC Award and Tiger Award, as well as a Special Mention at the 2005 Rotterdam International Film Festival. Yuhang Ho went to receive international recognition for his film "Rain Dogs"(2006) winning the Best Director award at the Nantes Three Continent Festival in 2006. His latest picture, the noir infused "At The End Of Daybreak"(2009), funded by Asian Cinema Fund at the Pusan International Film Festival this year, became the first Malaysian film ever to screen in competition at the Locarno International Film Festival. The works of HO Yuhang attract attention through his distinctive way of speech distinguished from other established Malaysian films thus revealing the in-depth speculation on dismal reality and the languid life of Malaysia. The young sense of HO Yuhang's directing will bring fresh

Mahmoud KALARI, regarded as the most prominent cinematographer in Iran, is an artist who has proved his excellence in various fields from directing to photography, production design, and of course cinematography. He has gained international fame as a master of cinematography collaborating with Iranian masters such as Abbas KIAROSTAMI, Mohsen MAKMALBAF, and Dariush MEHRJUI while at the same time maintaining his highly recognized reputation as a director. "The Cloud and The Rising Sun"(1997), which he directed, received the Best Film award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival in 1998. His major works include "Gabbeth" (1996) and "A Moment of Innocence"(1996), "Mainline"(2006). "The Pear Tree"(1998), directed by Dariush MEHRJUI, was awarded for Best Cinematography in the International Competition section at the Fajr Film Festival 1998. The film "The Wind Will Carry Us," directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI, won the FIPRESCI Prize and Grand Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival in 1999, and "Offside"(2006), directed by Jafar PANAHI, received the Silver Berlin Bear at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival. He has also worked as an actor, turning in surprising performances in the films "Baanoo"(1998) and "Men at Work"(2006). As a leading world cinematographer KALARI materializes the Iranian landscape with suffocatingly beautiful depiction and spares no effort in capturing the delicate emotion of characters. Most of all, the value of the universe, which he captures in the lens, is sincerity at its finest. His cinematography experiments with the cinematic aesthetics in a bold and honest way, and will offer the AFA fellows with a new perspective embodying the world.

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