Netflix and Agency for Cultural Affairs Train Focus Pullers With Kill Bill Veteran
The collaboration formalizes a rare systematic training pipeline for a specialized camera role that in Japan has traditionally been learned only through on-set experience.
Reporting from 1 source: KAI-YOU.
Netflix and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs held a training class for focus pullers on July 17, led by Jamie Felts, a veteran of Kill Bill, There Will Be Blood, and The Aviator. The class is part of the Cinematic Quantum program, aiming to systematize on-set focus techniques and build internationally capable camera crews.
On July 17, Netflix and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs held a training class for focus pullers, the camera specialists who control focus during filming. The session was led by Jamie Felts, a veteran 1st AC who worked on Kill Bill, There Will Be Blood, and The Aviator and was named Technician of the Year by the Society of Camera Operators in 2025. The class took place at Sony's Digital Media Production Center Japan and is part of the Cinematic Quantum program, which aims to train camera personnel who can work on international productions. Netflix has been running camera crew training since 2021, and this class builds on its Creators Dojo program launched in 2025.
Netflix-certified focus puller Mio Kumagai, who had undergone similar training, joined to evaluate participants. She noted that in Japan focus techniques are typically learned on set and that there were almost no opportunities to systematically learn world-standard techniques. She said the training gave her confidence in the techniques and thinking cultivated in Japanese production environments and expressed hope to pass on those techniques to the next generation.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.