Masamichi Matsumoto

Biography: Masamichi Matsumoto (松本 正道, Matsumoto Masamichi, born in 1950, Hiroshima Prefecture) is a Japanese film programmer, educator, and cultural promoter. Since 1979, he has served as the director of the Athénée Français Cultural Center in Tokyo, where he curates over 200 films annually, introducing Japanese audiences to lesser-known international auteurs such as Daniel Schmid, Jacques Rivette, and Straub-Huillet. In 1997, he co-founded the Film School of Tokyo (映画美学校) with Kenzo Horikoshi, fostering education in filmmaking and visual arts. Matsumoto has coordinated numerous symposia, served on international film festival juries, and held positions in cultural institutions including the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute and the Community Cinema Center. He was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2008, and received the 27th Kawakita Award in 2009. As an actor, he appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's The Great Illusion (大いなる幻影, 1999), portraying the character Murai.