Yoshitaka Amano – Special Guest at Matera Film Festival

Matera Film Festival


Amano will be a special guest at the Matera Film Festival, in collaboration with Lucca Comics & Games

After a year that saw him protagonist with the two major exhibitions Amano Corpus Animae produced by Lucca Crea in the cities of Milan and Rome (open until October 12) – the Japanese master Yoshitaka Amano (Shizuoka, 1952), one of the most important contemporary Japanese artists and illustrators, Ambassador of the Italian Pavilion at Osaka 2025. The great Sensei will receive the “Giuliana d'Argento” award, established this year and which from now on the Festival will award to personalities who have distinguished themselves in the arts, knowledge and expertise.

Yoshitaka Amano (Shizuoka, 1952) is one of the most important contemporary Japanese artists and illustrators. His career began in the 1970s at the Tatsunoko animation studio, where he worked as a character designer on cult series such as Mago Pancione, Pinocchio, Gatchaman, Hurricane Polimar, and Tekkaman. Beginning in the 1980s, he established himself internationally as an illustrator, creating iconic covers for the Vampire Hunter D novels and, above all, as an artist for the Final Fantasy video game series, which helped define the fantasy aesthetic worldwide. At the same time, he developed a personal pictorial language, exhibited in major international museums and galleries, including the monographic exhibition Amano Corpus Animae, currently on view at Palazzo Braschi in Rome until October 12, 2025, curated by Fabio Viola. His works interweave Eastern mythologies with Western styles, making him a universal artist capable of transforming works by international writers such as Peter Moorcock and Neil Gaiman, with whom he won the Bram Stoker Award for The Sandman: Dreamcatcher. His connection with Italy began at a very young age with the study of the great Renaissance masters and a series of special projects, such as the only illustrated, rather than photographic, Vogue cover designed in January 2000 and the recent title of Ambassador of the Italian Pavilion at Osaka 2025.
In collaboration with Lucca Comics & Games, the Japanese master will be a special guest at the Matera Film Festival. A discussion on his over 50-year career spanning art, cinema, illustration, and video games is planned.