Born in Tokyo, Japan. Keiko Ibi studied Japanese Literature at Japan Women's University. At the age of 19, she entered a national beauty competition and was crowned "Miss Japan." Bucking all expectations, she then studied screenplay writing and moved to the United States. After making a few fictional short films as an NYU graduate film student, Ibi began shooting THE PERSONALS in the summer of 1996. She completed her film and the NYU MFA program in 1998. She is now completing a feature length screenplay and is beginning the production of a new documentary. She is married to filmmaker Greg Pak, who was the cinematographer of THE PERSONALS and won a Student Academy Award for his film FIGHTING GRANDPA. Ibi was cinematographer for Pak's MOUSE (1997), and she was an assistant camera for the 1999 feature film CHUTNEY POPCORN. Ibi has a website for her film production company Keiko Films and can be contacted at KeikoFilms@aol.com.  Best Achievement in Documentary Short Subjects 1998: THE PERSONALS: IMPROVISATIONS ON RAMANCE IN THE GOLDEN YEARS - Producer 1 nomination, 1 Award