Co-writer/producer/directors Junko Kajino & Ed M. Koziarski

Ed M. Koziarski and Junko Kajino are writer-producer-directors of the psychological drama The First Breath of Tengan Rei, starring Erika Oda of Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s After Life as an Okinawan woman who kidnaps the teenage son of a U.S. Marine who was convicted of raping her when she was a girl. A selection of IFP’s Independent Film Lab, The First Breath of Tengan Rei has screened theatrically, at educational venues and in festivals across the U.S., Japan and in India.

Junko and Ed are developing film and graphic novel versions of the girl’s sword fighting family drama Head Hand Heart, set in Junko’s hometown in the mountains of Nagano, Japan. Their short film Homesick Blues won the IFP/Chicago Flyover Zone Film Festival and was a selection of the Hawaii and Chicago international film festivals.

Junko and Ed have worked in key production positions including co-producer, line producer, production manager, production designer and assistant director, on independent feature films including Wendy Jo Carlton’s Hannah Free starring Sharon Gless, distributed by Wolfe Releasing; Malik Bader’s crime mockumentary Street Thief, a selection of the Tribeca Film Festival released by A&E Indie; Noel Olken’s Meditations on Trafficking; Brigid Maher’s Adrift in the Heartland; Anthony Collamati’s The Acedia Thing featuring Stana Katic (Castle) in her first film role; Scott Cozzolino’s Dead Letters, as well as Wojciech Lorenc’s TV pilot Windy Field, various short films, music and instructional videos, and public service announcements.

Ed writes about film for publications including Filmmaker, Chicago Reader, Time Out Chicago, Reel Chicago, Chicago Social, and PerformInk.