Thomas Ash

Born in the United States in 1975. After graduating ftom college, Ash came to Japan and spent three years working on the JET program. He then went to Britain, where he earned an MA in film and television production, and has lived in Japan ever since. His first feature documentary, The Ballad of Vicki and Jake (2006), received the Prix du Canton Vaud for best first film at the 2006 Visions du Reél International Documentary Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland. His other works include In the Grey Zone (2012) and A2-B-C (2013), both documentaries he filmed in Fukushima following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear meltdown. Ushiku was screened at the 2021 Nippon Connection Film Festival in Germany, where it received the Nippon Docs Award, an audience prize for best documentary. At the 2021 DMZ Docs Film Festival in Korea, the film received the Asian Perspective Award (first prize in the Asian Competition), and in the Netherlands, it received the Camera Japan Award (audience award).