Artist / Filmmaker & CG Artist / Origami Artist
Born in November 2001 in Higashikurume, Tokyo.

Kei Kanamori is a filmmaker and CG artist known for his unique approach to 3D animation and his visual exploration of traditional Japanese culture. His graduation film Origami became the first Japanese work to win a Student Academy Award and was later shortlisted for the 97th Oscars® in the Animated Short Film category.

Spending his school years in the nature-rich environment of Jiyu Gakuen, Kanamori developed an interest in origami from a young age and calligraphy from middle school. At the same time, he was captivated by Western films, which sparked his journey into 3D animation for cinema. Finding a common ground in the “mathematical sense of form” present in both origami and CG, he began teaching himself 3D animation during his second year of high school. He later enrolled at Digital Hollywood University, where the CG works he created were highly recognized on social media and in competitions both in Japan and abroad.

His VFX short videos went viral, with “Double Backflip with a Twist” reaching 1.5 million views on Instagram and “Unstable Jenga” recording over 9 million views on X (formerly Twitter). He directed the collaborative short film Tomatoes, which won the Excellence Award at the 29th Campus Genius Contest and was officially selected for Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2024 (SSFF & ASIA)—one of Asia’s largest international short film festivals—as well as the SIGGRAPH Asia 2024 Computer Animation Festival. Mai, a visual piece themed around calligraphy, won the Excellence Award at the internationally renowned Rookie Awards 2023. Additionally, in “Sanzigen Musou,” a CG contest judged by Japanese leading VFX artists based overseas, Mai and Tomatoes won 1st and 3rd place, respectively, in the video category.

For his graduation project, he returned to his roots to create Origami, a short film themed around origami and nature. It was awarded the Grand Prize at the Digital Hollywood University graduation exhibition and subsequently screened at various Academy Award®-qualifying international short film festivals, including SSFF & ASIA and the 20th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival. Furthermore, the film was selected for the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater 2024, the world’s largest CG festival, marking the first time in 16 years that a Japanese student’s work had been chosen. The film also won the 51st Student Academy Award—a historic first for a Japanese work—and was eventually shortlisted for the 97th Oscars®. Since February 2025, Origami and Mai have been on permanent display on the large digital signage at Narita Airport Terminal 1.

He currently works in Japan as an independent filmmaker and CG artist. Leveraging advanced skills in software such as Maya, Houdini, Nuke, and After Effects, he handles a wide range of projects. His recent work includes creating the title sequences for television dramas and some of Japan’s largest music festivals, such as ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL and JAPAN JAM. Alongside his filmmaking, he continues to explore the expressive possibilities of origami.