Ryo USHIMARU

Ryo USHIMARU was born in Gifu Prefecture in 1980 and started his career as a model and actor. He starred in such films as THE VOICE OF WATER (2014 / NC ’15) by Masashi YAMAMOTO and LOWLIFE LOVE (2015 / NC ’16) by Eiji UCHIDA, before he directed his own short film SMILE in 2017. His short film TIME TO SHINE (2019) won the Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize at the 48 Hour Film Project. QUALIA (2023 / NC ’24) is his feature-length debut.