Michael Fukushima

Michael Fukushima has been directing and producing animation films since 1984. On the strength of his first auteur film, Tako, Fukushima was invited to the National Film Board's Animation Studio in 1990, and two years later, had completed the breakthrough animation/documentary film Minoru: Memory of Exile. The film was honoured with the Best Short Documentary and Best Overall Sound awards at Hot Docs! in 1994, and was nominated for a Gemini Award in 1993, for Best Youth Program or Series. In 1996, Fukushima directed Plumbum Conundrum, an NFB cartoon detailing the dangers of lead-based products in home use.

In 1997, Fukushima became a producer in the NFB’s Animation, Children, Interactive Studio. His credits include Understanding the Law, an animated series that explores the everyday issues of Canadian Civil Law; A Crack in the Pavement, a two-part video set that shows children, teachers and parents how, working together to green their school grounds, they can make positive changes in their communities; From Far Away, an animated tale of a young girl's tribulations as she adjusts from her wartorn home of Beirut to a quieter and safer life in Canada; and A Monster’s Calling, a humorous animated film about the nature of personal anxieties and body image.

Fukushima is currently working on several productions, including Showa Shinzan, an animated environmental parable about the lessons a young Japanese girl learns from her grandfather; Seasons of the Loon, an animated interpretation of a loon’s consciousness that brings together digital technology and artistic sensibility; and Three Measures:The War Measures Act, an educational website where users are drawn into a fictitious crisis and asked to vote on whether or not the Emergencies Act should be implemented in order to reestablish order.

In addition to his work at the National Film Board and as an independent filmmaker, Fukushima taught for several years at Concordia University in Montreal.