Kazuto Kodama (born 1976 ) is a Japanese filmmaker , film director , and screenwriter. Born in Akita Prefecture , he attended Akita Prefectural Akita High School , graduated from the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences , Waseda University, completed his master's course at the Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Language and Society , and dropped out of his doctoral course. While working as a film staff member since his student days, he began making his own independent films, and his works were selected and won awards at several film festivals, including the Pia Film Festival . In 2006, his directorial work, Hikari no Kuni, won the Cineaste Osaka Mayor's Award (Grand Prix) at the Cineaste Organization Osaka Exhibition (CO2), a project promoting Osaka City's visual culture. In 2007, the film was selected for the Young Filmmakers Development Project, a project commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs .