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Ryo was a gifted cinematographer, photographer and filmmaker based in
New York. He was born on July 8, 1979 in Ehime, Japan,
and grew up in Tokushima and Kagawa. He developed an interest in
American art and culture and moved to Los Angeles
when he was eighteen. A few years later, he moved to New York to study film
at Brooklyn College and he discovered a passion for cinematography there.
Ryo quickly became a highly sought after cinematographer,
applying his unique visual aesthetic across genres, from documentary
and narrative film to commercial and music video. Many of his projects
went on to win awards and garner berths in prestigious film festivals.
Ryo’s significant works as director of photography consist of several award-winning documentary features, notably Run for Your Life (2008), about the life of NY Marathon founder, Fred Lebow; Blank City (2010) about
No Wave, the avant-garde music and art scene during the late 70’s in NY; and Bill W. (2012) about the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The last film he shot was Out of My Hand (2015), a narrative feature inspired by Ryo’s unfinished documentary about the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia. Shortly after returning from the Liberia shoot for
Out of My Hand, Ryo suddenly passed away on June 29, 2013, due to a severe strain of malaria. It was a week before his 34th birthday.
Out of My Hand went on to premiere in the Panorama section at the 2015 Berlinale, and was nominated for the 2016 John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award. The Village Voice paid tribute to Ryo’s cinematography in their review for the film, noting his tragic passing, and calling his shooting
“starkly beautiful … His work will endure.”
After his passing, Judd Ehrlich, a filmmaker and longtime collaborator of Ryo’s, took on the unfinished Firestone documentary. He completed the film as Notes from Liberia (2015), a short memoir told through Ryo’s point of view, with words from the diary he wrote during the filming. The film won awards at several festivals worldwide and was broadcasted throughout Europe. Ryo’s footage was also featured in Firestone and the Warlord (2015), an investigative documentary from ProPublica and PBS’s Frontline, which won two Emmy Awards. His footage from the Firestone rubber plantation remains one of the only images filmed inside the tightly guarded plantation.
Friends and collaborators of Ryo remember him as a talented, compassionate, and thoughtful man with a big smile and a big heart.
Ryo’s humanity and bold creative vision will continue to live on through his works.
He is survived by his wife and three children.
Eulogies for Ryo on Periscope Magazine
Tribute by UNU
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Liberia
2013
Ryo shooting Out of My Hand in Liberia in 2013.
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Liberia
2013
Ryo shooting Out of My Hand in Liberia in 2013
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Liberia
2013
Ryo shooting Out of My Hand in the rubber plantation in Liberia in 2013.
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New York
2012
Ryo shooting the music video of Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire in New York in 2012.
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New York
2012
From the shoot of the music video for Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire in New York in 2013.
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New York
2011
Ryo shooting the short film, J-1 by Geoffrey Guerrero.
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Kenya
2012
From the shoot of UNU Geothermal Kenya in 2012.
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New York
2011
From the set of the feature documentary, Bill W in New York in 2011.
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New York
2011
Ryo checking the light on the set of the documentary, Bill W in New York in 2011.
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Hawaii
2011
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Tohoku, Japan
2011
Ryo shooting in the devastated area hit by the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan one month after the event in 2011.
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Okinawa, Japan
2011
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Shiretoko, Japan
2011
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Shiretoko, Japan
2011
From a documentary shoot on fishermen in Shiretoko, Hokkaido, Japan in 2011.
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India
2010
From the shooting of a documentary for UNU in India, 2010.
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Kobe, Japan
2008
Ryo shooting with a steadicam for a documentary in Kobe, Japan.
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New York
2010
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New York
2007
From the premiere of the feature documentary Run For Your Life at Tribeca Film Festival in NY in 2007.
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Ghana
2008
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Liberia
2007
From the trip to Liberia Ryo took to shoot his documentary about the Fire Stone owned rubber plantation, (later finished as Notes From Liberia) in Liberia in 2007.
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Brooklyn, NY
2005
Ryo shooting a Brooklyn College student short film in 2005.