KOICHI KAWAKITA COMES TO TOWN! G-FEST XXI Adds the Famed Toho SFX Director to Its Growing Guest Lineup!

SFX director Koichi Kawakita speaks about all things Godzilla at a talk show event in Tokyo. Photo by Brett Homenick.

G-FEST XXI is pleased to announce the return of legendary SFX director KOICHI KAWAKITA to the growing lineup of celebrity guests from Japan. Mr. Kawakita directed the SFX scenes for every Godzilla movie from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) through Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995). Mr. Kawakita won the Japanese Academy Award for his SFX work on Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.

Mr. Kawakita joined Toho in the early 1960s, working on the lavish sci-fi epic Gorath (1962), among many other films. In the 1970s, he worked on a variety of films and television programs, such as Ultraman Ace (1972-73), Zone Fighter (1973), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), The Last Days of Planet Earth (1974), Zero Pilot (1976), The War in Space (1977), and the Shaw Brothers' Mighty Peking Man (1977). In the 1980s, Mr. Kawakita directed the dazzling effects in Sayonara Jupiter (1984) and Gunhed (1989). Following his retirement from Toho, Mr. Kawakita founded his own production company, Dream Planet Japan.

Mr. Kawakita will join Katsuhiko Sasaki and Tomoko Ai in Chicago from July 11 through 13 at G-FEST XXI.