Animator Ryo Ono, a 37-year-old Tokyo native, achieved his dream of making films by changing his career as a movie production assistant.
Despite his late start as an animator in 2004, his first movie, "Eagle Talon The Movie: The Chancellor Only Lives Twice," won the awards for Best Animation and Best International Director of an Animation at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in February.
The humorous script begins with the secret evil group Eagle Talon fleeing to space in the dark of night because they can't pay the rent. They then discover a secretive spaceship and meet a dictator bent on conquering the Earth.