Person
Emiko Omori
Directing
Biography
Emiko Omori has traveled the globe for more than 30 years as a cinematographer for many award-winning documentaries. Omori taught filmmaking in California and Hawai‘i and was the San Francisco Bay Area's first Asian American female news cameraperson. Omori has produced several nationally acclaimed documentaries including: Tattoo City, a documentary about the art of Japanese-style full body tattooing by artist D.E. Hardy; Hot Summer Winds, a drama based on two short stories by Nisei writer Hisaye Yamamoto that was showcased on American Playhouse; Rabbit in the Moon, a feature-length documentary that combines the internees' powerful stories with evocative images resulting in a film that is part documentary, part memoir and part essay. Rabbit in the Moon was broadcast on P.O.V. and received the Best Documentary Cinematography Award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and won an Emmy.
Known for

American Playhouse
Director

The Great Depression
Director of Photography

The Times of Harvey Milk
Additional Camera

Black Is… Black Ain’t
Additional Photography

Regret to Inform
Director of Photography

Smash Cuts! Super Sci-Fi Shorts Fest
Thanks

Slaying the Dragon
Other
Street Music
Assistant Camera
Ghost Town to Havana
Director of Photography
WTF?
Director
Filmography
- 2024Murder in the High DesertDirector
- 2022Exquisite Moving CorpseDirector
- 2020Vanishing Chinatown: The World of the May’s Photo StudioDirector
- 2018WTF?Director
- 2017When Rabbit Left the MoonDirector
- 2015Ghost Town to HavanaDirector of Photography
- 2012To Chris Marker, an Unsent LetterNarrator (voice)
- 2010Ed Hardy: Tattoo the WorldDirector
- 2009Fumiko Hayashida: The Woman Behind the SymbolNarrator (voice)
- 2007Women Behind the CameraSelf
- 2007Passion & Power: The Technology of OrgasmDirector
- 2001The Chinatown FilesDirector of Photography
- 2001Smash Cuts! Super Sci-Fi Shorts FestThanks
- 2000Rebels with a CauseCinematography
- 1999Conversations with Intellectuals About SelenaDirector of Photography
- 1999Regret to InformDirector of Photography
- 1999Corpus: A Home Movie About SelenaDirector of Photography
- 1999Rabbit in the MoonProducer
- 1995Black Is… Black Ain’tAdditional Photography
- 1993The Great DepressionDirector of Photography
- 1990Home from the Eastern SeaEditor
- 1988Slaying the DragonOther
- 1988Cowboy PoetsDirector of Photography
- 1984The Times of Harvey MilkAdditional Camera
- 1983Hopi: Songs of the Fourth WorldCinematography
- 1982American PlayhouseDirector
- 1981Street MusicAssistant Camera
- 1979Manongs Film ProjectDirector
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