Takuma Sato is a Japanese film director from Akita, Japan. After graduating from high school in northern Japan, he entered a university in Tokyo and started to follow filmmaking classes. He completed the New Creator Workshop (NCW) Creator Advanced Course in 2012 and later joined Bunbuku, the production company and collective founded by Hirokazu Kore-eda. His 2014 independent film Don't Say that Word based on his experiences in the soccer club of his high school in Akita won the Film Fan Award and the Audience Award at the Pia Film Festival PFF Awards. He subsequently directed several short films. Set again in Akita, his first nationally-distributed film Any Crybabies Around? won the Best Cinematography Award in Competition at the 68th San Sebastian International Film Festival.