Jasper Sharp is a critic, author, filmmaker and independent scholar specialising in Japanese cinema. He was the co-founder and co-editor (with Tom Mes) of the website Midnight Eye, the first and foremost website dedicated to Japanese film, which ran from 2001 until 2015.

His writing has appeared in publications across the world, including Sight & Sound, The Guardian, Variety, The Japan Times, Kateigaho and Film International, and he has contributed liner notes, commentaries and interviews to numerous home video releases. 

His book publications include The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film (2003), Behind the Pink Curtain (2008) and The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Film (2011). 

He programmed the Asian selection for London’s Raindance Film Festival between 2005-2009 and acted as programme advisor for the Japan Foundation UK’s annual touring season since 2005. Between 2010 and 2014 he was the director Zipangu Fest, a touring festival showcasing Japanese independent film in the UK, and was the Artistic Director of the Asia House Film Festival from 2014 to 2016. He has programmed a number of high profile seasons and retrospectives with organisations including the British Film Institute, Deutches Filmmuseum, Austin Fantastic Fest, New Horizons (Poland), the Cinematheque Quebecois and Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and has a PhD from the University of Sheffield in ‘Japanese Widescreen Cinema: Commerce, Technology and Aesthetics’ about the adoption and development of anamorphic scope formats in Japan.

He is also the co-director, alongside Tim Grabham, of the award-winning documentary about plasmodial slime moulds, The Creeping Garden (2014).