Ryo Hayashi was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. His first short film “High School Bandits,” which he shot on a Super 8 camera with his pals in high school, was shown at the annual Shakujii Festival and won the Audience Choice Award. In 1995 Ryo came to the United States to pursue his film career where he has produced and directed six short films. He was responsible for the translation of the script “Shall We Dance” and interned at Kuzui Enterprises (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Orgasmo”) as a bilingual story editor. In 1997 he was awarded a scholarship to attend the graduate film program at NYU. Ryo is currently at work on his film “Useless,” a story of a Japanese businessman coming to terms with his retirement.