Movies
793 Results
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Shiver (2021)
- Director
- TOYODA Toshiaki
- Cast
- SHIBUKAWA Kiyohiko
First film featuring Kodo, the taiko drum group based in Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture. In 2021 they celebrated four decades of sharing traditional performing arts from Japan with the world. The project began when one of Kodo's members emailed mus...
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AKAI (2022)
- Director
- AKAI Eigoro
- Cast
- AKAI Hidekazu
A documentary that unravels the charm of Akai Hidekazu, a highly talented boxer who caused a frenzy throughout Japan, through his fight footage and interviews at the time. Director Sakamoto Junji, who directed Akai's acting debut, Knockout, fully coo...
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Kids Konference (2022)
- Director
- GODA Tomo
- Cast
Documentary covering a year at a nursery school where kids hold "conferences." The film explores the essence of dialogue through the lives of children and reunites Goda Tomo with the main staff from the Being Born series about life and family. "Kids...
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Transform! (2020)
- Director
- ISHIDA Tomoya
- Cast
- ISHIDA Tomoya, JAREO Osamu, SAZAWA (NOZAKI) Shizue
Ishida Tomoya, who uses an electric wheelchair, helmed this documentary bursting with the joy of artistic expression. Won the Pia Film Festival Award 2020, the grand prize at the 42nd Pia Film Festival. Ishida visits people with a wide array of "dif...
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Kagawa District 1 (2022)
- Director
- OSHIMA Arata
- Cast
- OGAWA Junya, HIRAI Takuya, MACHIKAWA Junko
Sequel arriving a year and a half after the release of Why You Can't Be Prime Minister, which boasted remarkable attendance figures. Director Oshima Arata focused on Lower House lawmaker Ogawa Junya in the previous film and turns his attention to the...
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Ushiku (2021)
- Director
- Thomas ASH
- Cast
Documentary featuring testimonies by people applying for refugee status at the East Japan Immigration Center known as "Ushiku". Director Thomas Ash shot the film with hidden cameras, a controversial technique. Winner of the Asian Perspective Award in...
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Rhapsody Of Colors (2020)
- Director
- SATO Takayuki
- Cast
- ISHIKAWA Riri, NAKAMURA Kazutoshi, Joplin
Documentary about the activities of Colors, a barrier-free social club. Directed by Sato Takayuki, who brought a fresh perspective to individuals within their tribe in Kaput and Apappo: A Tale of Ainu Sisters. Located in Nishikamata, Tokyo, Colors i...
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Maigo ni natta kobushi (2020)
- Director
- IMADA Satoshi
- Cast
- KANEKO Daiki, TOKESHI Kohei
Documentary exploring the reasons why people fight through the stories of Japanese people trying their hand at lethwei, the Myanmar traditional martial art. Imada Tetsushi last directed a documentary 16 years ago with Kumazasa no igon. Lethwei is sa...
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Fishmans (2021)
- Director
- TESHIMA Yuki
- Cast
Teshima Yuki makes his feature film directorial debut with this documentary about the history of the internationally acclaimed band Fishmans. Slumping record sales, label hopping, rotating cast of band members, and vocalist Sato Shinji's sudden deat...
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HONOKA (2021)
- Director
- KUNITOMO Yugo
- Cast
Documentary that touches on life itself through looking at the activities surrounding a girl who was pronounced nearly brain dead upon birth. Haru wo tsugeru machi director Shimada Ryuichi serves as producer, and the same film's assistant director Ku...
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TOKYO KURDS (2021)
- Director
- HYUGA Fumiari
- Cast
This documentary covers five-plus years in the lives of two young Turkish Kurds who are trying to get refugee status and exposes the plight of Kurdish refugees in Japan. 18-year-old Ozan and 19-year-old Ramazan arrived in Japan while still in elemen...
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JAKUCHO: An Extraordinary Life of a Japanese Nun (2022)
- Director
- NAKAMURA Yu
- Cast
- SETOUCHI Jakucho
Documentary about the Buddhist nun Setouchi Jakucho, who continued writing until her death in November 2021 at the age of 99. Features words of wisdom and personal revelations in never-seen-before footage captured by Nakamura Yu over a 17-year period...
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Tokyo Uber Blues (2021)
- Director
- AOYAGI Taku
- Cast
- AOYAGI Taku
Documentary capturing vignettes of Tokyo's "new normal" under COVID-19 from Aoyagi Taku, who made his directorial debut with Hiikun no aruku machi. March 2020. When COVID-19 wipes out work as a designated driver in Yamanashi, director Aoyagi ignores...
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I'll never forget Cowra (2021)
- Director
- MITSUDA Yasuhiro
- Cast
The Rainbow Over The River Kwai director Mitsuda Yasuhiro uncovers the truth about the group of Japanese war prisoners who tried to escape from a POW camp in Australia. During World War II the Cowra 12th Prisoner of War Camp granted the POWs a certa...
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Minamata Mandala (2020)
- Director
- HARA Kazuo
- Cast
Documentary shot over a two-decade period by The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On director Hara Kazuo. Documents multilayered lives and stories of Minamata, where debilitating disease continues to cast a long shadow. On October 15, 2004, the Supreme...
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Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions (2019)
- Director
- KOMORI Haruka, SEO Natsumi
- Cast
- KODA Haruka, YONEKAWA Ko Leon, SAKAI Haruka
Documentary that emerged from a project from the artist unit Komori Haruka + Seo Natsumi, whose collaboration began through volunteer activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake. In 2018, four travelers gathered for a workshop based in Rikuzent...
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Olympiad Tokyo Kasumigaoka Public Apartments (2020)
- Director
- AOYAMA Shinya
- Cast
Documentary about the lives of Kasumigaoka Public Apartments residents leading up to their eviction. Depicts the history of exclusion that unfolds under the specter of "Olympics First." Directed, shot and edited by filmmaker Aoyama Shinya. The city-...
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OKINAWA/SANTOS (2020)
- Director
- MATSUBAYASHI Yoju
- Cast
The dark, hidden immigrant history between Okinawa and Brazil is the subject of this documentary. Matsubayashi Yoju, the director known for The Horses of Fukushima, brings to light the truth about cases of Japanese immigrants being forcibly deported....
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Now is the Past ~My Father, Java & the Phantom Films~ (2021)
- Director
- ISE Shinichi
- Cast
- ISE Chonosuke, ISE Shinichi, ISE Kayo
Documentary filmmaker Ise Shinichi investigates the "phantom" films that his father Ise Chonosuke made in Indonesia during the war. Ise Chonosuke went to Indonesia to make propaganda films as a member of the cultural battlefront. His eldest son Shin...
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Whiplash of the Dead (2021)
- Director
- DAISHIMA Haruhiko
- Cast
Through interviews with people who knew the young man who lost his life in the First Haneda Struggle of 1967, this documentary sheds light on the "unusually fierce era". The director is Daishima Haruhiko of The Wages of Resistance: Narita Stories and...
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fOUL (2021)
- Director
- OISHI Noriko
- Cast
- TANIGUCHI Ken, HIRAMATSU Manabu, OCHI Daisuke
The subject of this documentary is the Japanese hardcore punk band fOUL which formed in 1994, announced they were taking a "break" in 2005, but have been on hiatus ever since. It is directed by Oishi Noriko, who has worked on numerous television musi...
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HOSONO HARUOMI SAYONARA AMERICA (2021)
- Director
- SADO Taketoshi
- Cast
- HOSONO Haruomi
Documentary film about the 2019 concerts held in the US celebrating the life's work of musician Hosono Haruomi. Director Sado Taketoshi also helmed the Hosono documentary NO SMOKING. Hosono has continually created fresh yet universal music in his ge...
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RAMEN FEVER (2021)
- Director
- KOBAYASHI Mari
- Cast
- NAKAMURA Shigetoshi, NAKAMURA Hiroto, TAKEI Kazuyuki
Documentary delving into the essence of ramen, the fascinating Japanese comfort food that elicits worldwide enthusiasm. Focuses on the passion and intense lifestyles of Nakamura Hiroto, CEO of the hugely popular AFURI chain, and his brother Nakamura ...
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The Pursuit of Perfection (2021)
- Director
- SAITO Toshimichi
- Cast
Focusing on four of the leading chefs in Japan today, this documentary explores the truth behind Japan's unique and sophisticated food culture. Each takes meticulous care of their own dishes in pursuit of perfection, but their approaches are quite di...
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To Die Ordinary - Independent Life (2020)
- Director
- SADASUE Mayako
- Cast
- SAKAGUCHI Emiko, SHIMIZU Akihiko, RI KUNIMOTO Syuji
This is a sequel to the film Living an Ordinary Life which documented for five years the parents who created a social welfare facility in Shizuoka Prefecture's Fuji City under the ideal living normally in the region even with severe disabilities". T...
