Emoto Tasuku, who comes from a family of actors, debuted at the age of 16 in Kuroki Kazuo's lyrical drama A Boy’s Summer in 1945, in which he played the director in his youth suffering survivors' guilt in the last days of the Pacific War. His naturalistic performance won him Kinema Junpo's highly-regarded Best Newcomer Award. He has since appeared in more than 50 feature films, countless TV shows and many stage productions. He has worked with Yukisada Isao, Wakamatsu Koji and Kudo Kankuro. Dynamite Graffiti showcases him in an explosive lead performance as the legendary erotica entrepreneur Suei Akira.

Tominaga Masanori, from Japan's northwestern Shikoku, won an honorary mention at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen for his thesis short Dolmen (1999). His made his feature debut with comedy The Pavilion Salamandre (2006), which starred Joe Odagiri as the titular lizard's X-ray technician. He has continued to worked with Japanese cinema's most exciting young actors including Sometani Shota in Pandora's Box (2009) and Yamada Takayuki in Vengeance Can Wait (2010), both recipients of NYAFF's Rising Star Asia award. The festival opens with his latest and best film, Dynamite Graffiti, starring NYAFF guest Emoto Tasuku as underground publisher Suei Akira.