Spark Artist

Masami Kawai is a Los Angeles-born filmmaker who lives in Eugene, Oregon. She's of Ryukyuan descent from the island of Amami. Her work integrates issues of race, Indigeneity, class, gender, and what it means to be an immigrant/settler in the United States. Kawai's work has screened at various venues, including the Rotterdam Film Festival, LACMA, and Indie Memphis. Her film TIDES won Best Narrative Short at the Northwest Film Forum's Film Festival and the Eastern Oregon Film Festival. Her film ZONA won Best Narrative Short at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

She's an Assistant Professor of Film Production at the University of Oregon, where she teaches Film Production and Screenwriting. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College, where she focused on Visual Arts, Radical Pedagogy, and Post-Colonial Studies. She received her MFA in Directing from UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television.

For her current project, VALLEY OF THE TALL GRASS, Kawai received a grant from the Walt Disney Company Project Advancement Fund, The Asian American Fund, and The Chase Sundance Film Fund. Before that, she received a grant from the Flies Collective, a significant funder of cutting-edge, independent films. She received additional funding from Oregon organizations, including the Oregon Community Foundation, PAM CUT, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the University of Oregon. The project also garnered support from institutions such as Film Independent, Gotham Film & Media Institute, and Cine Qua Non screenwriting lab. She was also a 2023 Sundance Directing and Screenwriting Lab Fellow.

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