Chihiro Amano was born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from university and working in the corporate sector, she began making films in 2009. Her feature film Mrs. Noisy (2019), which she wrote and directed, was selected for the Japanese Cinema Splash section at the Tokyo International Film Festival and won the Audience Award at JAPAN CUTS in New York. In 2025, she released Sato and Sato, starring Yukino Kishii and Hio Miyazawa. Her screenwriting credits include the animated series Kamiusagi Rope (Fuji TV), He’s Expecting (2022, Netflix), and Tengu’s Kitchen (2023, BS-TBS).

Sara Minami swept the Japanese newcomer awards at nineteen and has spent the years since refusing to repeat herself. Scouted as a teen model for nicola, she made her feature debut in Yukiko Mishima's Dear Etranger (2017), then broke through in Hiroaki Yuasa's Shino Can't Say Her Own Name (2018), winning Best New Artist at the Hochi Film Awards (shared with co-lead Aju Makita), the Blue Ribbon Award, and the Japanese Movie Critics Award. She moves easily between registers: the TBS hit series Dragon Zakura 2 (2021), the NHK taiga dramas The 13 Lords of the Shogun (2022) and Dear Radiance (2024), the Netflix series From Me to You (2023), and now two roles that push further out. She leads Takashi Koyama's All Greens as Boku Hidemi, an aspiring rapper with no place at school or home, which premiered at Busan in 2025, and she trades the assassin's trade with Jeffrey Ngai in NJO Kui Ying's Hong Kong-Japan thriller Road to Vendetta (2025). NYAFF presents Minami with the Screen International Rising Star Award on July 11, and screens Magical Secret Tour and All Greens with the actress in attendance.