Born in Tokyo, Shinozaki attended Rikkyo University, where he studied under Shigehiko Hasumi, made 8mm films, and appeared in the then amateur works of other Rikkyo graduates such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
[1][2] While working as a projectionist for the Athénée Français Cultural Center in Tokyo,[3] he saved up enough money to make his first 35mm film, Okaeri, for which he won the Wolfgang Staudte Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1995.
He has also produced the Cop Festival series featuring short films by directors such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Aoyama, Akihiko Shiota, and Hirokazu Koreeda.
[2] Continuing to write on film, he has published a history of horror cinema with Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
[6] Shinozaki continues to direct films while also serving as professor in the Department of Expression Studies of the College of Contemporary Psychology at Rikkyo University.