What Are You Afraid Of?(2015)

Tokyo Idols(ja)

This exploration of Japan's fascination with girl bands and their music follows an aspiring pop singer and her fans, delving into the cultural obsession with young female sexuality and the growing disconnect between men and women in hypermodern societies.

Maso and Miso Go Boating(fr)

The year 1975 is declared “year of the woman”. On this occasion Bernard Pivot invited Françoise Giroud on television, then Secretary of State for Women. Faced with statements, a group of women filmmakers parody the issues in a provocative way.

KANASHII YOKAN: The Life and Legacy of Yukiko Okada(en)

Thirty years ago, idol Okada Yukiko jumped off the Sun Music agency building in a desperate attempt to take her own life. Unfortunately, she was successful. Outside of Japan, not much is known about Yukko, aside from her music and her death. In this documentary series, we will document her short life in its entirety, beginning from her birth and ending with her legacy beyond death.

Batchan(pt)

Teachings of an Issei. Advice, spirituality and challenges.

Omoiyari(en)

Violinist and songwriter Kishi Bashi travels on a musical journey to understand WWII era Japanese Incarceration, assimilation, and what it means to be a minority in America today.

Zen, in Search of Enlightenment(en)

A documentary exploring the rigorous training and meditation practices found at the Shōgen-ji, a Zen Buddhist monastery of the Rinzai school in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

Shinto: Nature, Gods, and Man in Japan(en)

A documentary tracing the development of Shinto to the present day. Explores ancient ritual sites that are still used today, as well as major shrines and great works of Shinto religious art.

Hafu(es)

A journey into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experiences in modern day Japan. For some hafus, Japan is the only home they know, for some living in Japan is an entirely new experience, and the others are caught somewhere between two different worlds.

Japan's War In Colour(en)

Using never-before-seen footage, Japan's War In Colour tells a previously untold story. It recounts the history of the Second World War from a Japanese perspective, combining original colour film with letters and diaries written by Japanese people. It tells the story of a nation at war from the diverse perspectives of those who lived through it: the leaders and the ordinary people, the oppressors and the victims, the guilty and the innocent. Until recently, it was believed that no colour film of Japan existed prior to 1945. But specialist research has now unearthed a remarkable colour record from as early as the 1930s. For eight years the Japanese fought what they believed was a Holy War that became a fight to the death. Japan's War In Colour shows how militarism took hold of the Japanese people; describes why Japan felt compelled to attack the West; explains what drove the Japanese to resist the Allies for so long; and, finally, reveals how they dealt with the shame of defeat.

Raise Your Arms and Twist - Documentary of NMB48(ja)

Launched in 2011 as a sister group to girl band behemoth AKB48, the Osaka-based NMB48 has become a musical force itself. With a string of No.1 hit singles and albums, not to mention sell-out performances, NMB48 continues Japan’s pop-music phenomena. Director Funahashi Atsushi, whose documentary work has previously chronicled such harrowing events as the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, pulls back the curtain on the life and struggles of the band members and the workings of the idol-making industry.

Ona Carbonell: Starting Over(es)

In August 2020, Olympic artistic swimmer Ona Carbonell became a first time mother, an experience that reshaped her life overnight.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness(ja)

Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki.

Floral Japan(en)

This Traveltalk visit to Japan starts with a look at the country's cherry blossom trees, tulips, and ubiquitous gardens. We then see the proper manner for preparing a woman's hair and wearing a kimono.

Samurai Headhunters(en)

A documentary on the dark and brutal side of the Samurai warrior clans featuring the life of peasant Masa who is pressganged into the ruthless world of the Samurai.

Le Japon, l'empereur et l'armée(fr)

The Message from Fukushima(ja)

Short documentary about the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Click to Ransom(en)

A small rural hospital in Japan battles an international cybercriminal gang that is holding them ransom with their stolen patient data.

Born In Summer(ja)

A filmmaker plays with diary-docu and fiction as his camera joins his ventures into a phone dating club. Bored to death, hormones running, and desperately wanting to talk to someone his own age (preferably a girl), he walks into a local phone dating club. Can he hook up with someone? Borrowing the form of a diary-movie, the director unfurls an unpredictable and imaginative look into his own persona. 8mm experimental film by Murakami Kenji, the film that made his name.

The Voyage of Bashô(fr)

A fictionalised documentary about the great Japanese poet Bashô (1644–1694), the spiritual father of haiku poetry. A monk, portraying the poet, journeys through Japan, following Bashô's journal and writing many of his haikus. A ruminant, poetic, Zen Buddhist observation of nature – a return to the lost paradise of unspoilt nature.

Io sono nata viaggiando(it)

A journey back through Dacia Maraini's and her trips around the world with her close friends cinema director Pier Paolo Pasolini and opera singer Maria Callas. An in-depth story of this fascinating woman's life. Maraini's memories come alive through personal photographs taken on the road as well as her own Super 8 films shot almost thirty years ago.