Born in 1981 in Osaka prefecture, Japan, Katayama Shinzo worked as an assistant director for Nobuhiro Yamashita before becoming an assistant director for Bong Joon Ho on two of his projects: Tokyo! (2008) and Mother (2009). His debut feature, Siblings of the Cape (2019), won the Best Picture – Feature Length at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival and was invited to numerous international film festivals including Göteborg Film Festival, Geneva International Film Festival and Taipei Film Festival.