Kenta Ikeda grew up watching films thanks to his father, an avid fan of classical movies by such masters as John Ford, Hitchcock, Bergman, Ozu, and more. Despite initially pursuing a more typical career path in computer science from Osaka University, he instead chose to follow his passion for cinema and left for the United States to study filmmaking at Cal State Long Beach, further immersing himself in film through collaborations and shared ideas with newfound American peers. Upon graduating, he apprenticed under Shunji Iwai during the production and postproduction of Vampire (2011), and--following his return to Japan--began writing and directing his own short films including The Devil at 3 PM; picked up by international film festivals including Festival Silhouette 2017 (Paris), Sapporo Short International Film Festival 2018, United States Super 8 Film + Digital Video Festival 2018, among others. He also collaborates and writes scripts for fellow independent filmmakers and looks forward to the reception to his first feature film Strangers (2024).