Chiemi Karasawa

Chiemi Karasawa is an award-winning Director/Producer who founded Isotope Films in 2005 to develop and produce content based on character-driven true stories. Her directorial debut “ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME” will be released theatrically by IFC/Sundance Selects in 2014.
Producer and Co-Producer credits include Ellen Kuras’ epic “THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON)”, which premiered at Berlin Film Festival and won an Emmy Award in 2009 and “BILLY THE KID” (2008), a portrait of an adolescent in rural Maine with Asperger’s Syndrome (Best Documentary at SXSW Film Festival, LA Film Festival, Edinburgh Film
Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival and released theatrically and on HBO). Additional films include: ELEVATE (2011), a story of a Senegalese basketball academy (Tribeca Film Festival 2011), LOVE ETC (OWN 2011), about five New York love stories; TELL THEM ANYTHING YOU WANT: PORTRAIT OF MAURICE SENDAK (2009), directed by Spike Jonze for HBO; and HARRY DEAN STANTON: PARTLY FICTION (Venice Film Festival Official Selection 2012).
Karasawa formerly worked as a Script Supervisor in narrative film and television for 18 years alongside such notable directors as: Martin Scorsese, Stephen Frears, Jim Jarmusch, Larry Clark, and Spike Jonze. She is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication with a degree in Broadcasting & Film.