Reiko Tahara
Reiko is from Kichijoji, Tokyo. Reiko’s love of writing naturally led her into filmmaking in teen years. After coming to the U.S. in 1991, her short film remnants (1995), an essay documentary about the image of the West in Japan, was screened at 30+ festivals and art venues including SXSW, Margaret Mead, New York Asian American Film Festival, Walker Art Center, and Pacific Film Archive. She has been collaborating with filmmaker/ film composer/ sound designer Max Uesugi since 1994. Reiko is a fellowship recipient of 2007 Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Emerging Artists in Experimental Documentary category. She taught various cinema courses at the New School and Temple University (2007-10), and currently teaches History and Theory of Documentary, Third Cinema, and New Currents in Documentary at MFA in Integrated Media Arts at Hunter Collage; Documentary Cinema, World Cinema, and Asian Culture at New York University; and Documentary Theory and Third Cinema at Downtown Community Television (DCTV). Reiko holds degrees from Waseda University (Tokyo), the New School for Social Research (NY), and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a special scholarship.
Max Uesugi
Max is from Uno, Okayama, Japan. Before coming to the U.S., he managed an imported record store/recording studio, played the bass guitar in several bands in Osaka and hosted a weekly radio show “Sweet Soul Music” in Okayama. He came to New York to pursue his interests in media sound design and film music composition.In New York, he studied critical media theory at the New School, MA in Media Studies, and challenged his creativity in various forms of media. His radio essay documentary series SOUND OF REALITY (aired on WBAI, NY) humorously raised questions on our sense of hearing and listening in this digital reproductive age. He also scored a dozen independent film/videos. Soon, he started producing his own films with a desire to incorporate his music/sound design into the storytelling itself. He formed MRex productions in 1994 and continued an independent-filmmaking adventure since.Besides filmmaking at the MRex, he provides audio/video field-production services for television, primarily as sound recordist for documentaries. He has worked and traveled around the world as a crew member for US/Japan/foreign channels such as PBS, HBO, BBC, NHK (JPN), ZDF (GER), CBS, NBC, ABC, Discovery, National Geographic Channel, Nickelodeon and so on.