Eimi Imanishi is a U.S./Japanese citizen who grew up in France. She earned her BFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, where she majored in sculpture.
Eimi wrote and directed Battalion To My Beat (2016), a narrative short film which was shot in the Western Saharan refugee camps in Algeria with a cast of refugees. The film premiered at TIFF, screened at major festivals worldwide, and won the Canal+ Award for Best International Short at the Festival du Court Metrage de Clermont-Ferrand in 2017.
She directed One-Up (2016), a Columbia University thesis short film written and produced by Julia Thompson. The film won Best Narrative Short at Indie Memphis and was released online in September 2017 as a Vimeo Staff Pick film and won Short Of The Week.
Eimi is developing her first feature film titled DOHA The Rising Sun, with the support of Sundance Feature Film Program, the BFI London Micro Market, and by Maison des Scenaristes at Marche du Film Cannes 2017. She is a 2017 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow and a Film Independent Directing Fellow.
Eimi lives and works in New York as a freelance director and production designer.