Kano U.
Filmmaker, Educator



Photography Credit: Christopher Santiago


Kano U. is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California (Tongva Land). 

Having grown up a Buddhist and with many cultural superstitions, Kano is drawn to the narrative structures of mythology and religious texts, where gods, deities, and supernatural phenomena are vehicles used to speak larger truths about our world. Like her films, Kano’s flash fiction stories also incorporate elements of mythology and spirituality to build an imagined world where the truth isn’t literal and stated, but rather revealed and learned through guided introspection.

With a background in teaching English and History to middle schoolers, Kano also seeks to bridge education and film with stories that lead to gentle revelations about the historical conditions that shape our present. 

Their visual and written voice is a mixture of play and contemplation, where childlike wonder is a perspective used to have spectators embody curiosity; because to the child who is newly born, the world feels vast and unknown, and at the same time, so ready to be reimagined.

Kano is currently an MFA student in Documentary Directing/Production at UCLA. 


Films                                                                         


A Storm Ballooned In My Belly

An animated short made with Procreate, Procreate Dreams, Photoshop, and After Effects.



Logline: When a candy transforms into a storm inside of a girl’s belly, she begins to feel and look at the world differently. 

Director, Writer,  Animator: Kano Umezaki
Sound Designer and Scorer: Christopher Santiago
 



Finding My Friend at Sea
A 2.5D animation hand drawn using Procreate, Photoshop, and After Effects.

Logline: A girl sails across the sea to search for her long-lost friend.

Director, Writer,  Animator, Sound Designer: Kano Umezaki




Please don’t use any of my pieces for the purpose of training artificial intelligence.