Discover Movies

Peep this subversive 1986 G.I.S.M. full set when they opened up for Psychic TV.

This Documentary is all about Rinzai Zen and Zen in common. The film gives you an insight to how Zen is lived in a strict monastery order and how it has influenced so many things. Parts one and two of this documentary shows life in a Rinzai Zen temple, mainly during a Rohatsu retreat. It gives some flavour of life in a Zen monastery. Parts three and four continues to explore life in a Rinzai Zen temple and how Zen influenced Japanese and to lesser degree Chinese culture.

Documentary about the landmark the OCCUR case

A documentary directed by Tadayoshi Himeda

A short documentary about the behaviour of Japanese primary school students.

This animated documentary is derived from footage shot at the site of the Sanrizuka struggle opposing the construction of Narita Airport. In addition to scenes evidently shot before and after the Nihon Genyasai Festival in Sanrizuka, it features time-lapse sequences showing abandoned houses and construction equipment leveling requisitioned land. “The footage was filmed in Narita. Because this land had been seized, I became conscious of the intensity of my own inner landscape. My time-lapse filming of the landscape was intended for use in an animation-as-documentary.”

This documentary follows four female same-sex couples in Japan as they build their families through assisted reproductive technology. Each couple faces discrimination and legal challenges, and the film portrays the common joys and struggles of becoming parents, as well as the additional trials of being an LGBTQ+ family in modern Japan. Uniquely, this film is shot by a lesbian mother who is also navigating her own journey through parenthood. It invites viewers to reflect on the hidden diversity of families within Japanese society.

Documentary directed by Kôji Seki.

Following the protest against the 2021 Myanmar military coup, travel blogger Naw and her husband embark on a harrowing escape through the vast jungles. Amidst the chaos and uncertainty, the couple finds comfort in an unexpected companion – a newly adopted kitten they name "POOPY."

1962 Japanese documentary

This documentary film was produced by the Japanese Government-General of Joseon to introduce Joseon's ondol (a traditional Korean sub-floor heating system) and winter culture to Japan. The film takes a close look at the heating mechanism of the ondol, the installation process, how Koreans get through the winter in a house equipped with ondol, children's various winter games, and a visit to a kitchen, where 'gourd dippers' (unfamiliar to Japanese people) are shown and Korean names for things, such as ‘food blade' for a kitchen knife, are described. This film’s tone resembles an anthropological report. The ending is also impressive. The film beautifully utilizes the sound of fulling cloth resonating quietly on a winter night. Collected in 2020, and transferred in 4K resolution.

A making-of documentary focusing on the collaboration between director Kanji Nakajima and cinematographer Hideho Urata in the 2008 film The Clone Returns Home. Released in the 2010 DVD Premium Edition as a bonus disc.

Japan has the world record for sexual abstinence, but the pornographic industry is very lucrative. The documentary reveals how the number of singles has doubled, and how older couples do not have sex. According to the National Institute of Japanese Sexology, "sexless" are those who have sexual intercourse with a frequency lower than once a month.

Documentary focusing on Miyawaki Akira, who has planted some 40 million trees through his forestation activities at over 1,700 sites.

Elin McCready and Midori Morita have been married for 20 years, and live in Tokyo with their 3 kids. In 2018 Elin filed to change her gender in the US, and shortly thereafter proceeded to change her gender and marriage documents in Japan as well. However, Japan has refused to recognize her transition as it would result in the de facto acceptance of same-sex marriage. To put it simply, Elin broke the Japanese legal system- a system that does not allow transgender people to have children, a system that does not allow same-sex marriage, and a system that does not recognize queer people as people with the same lives as those who identify as heterosexual.

A 25-year-old film student with a socially withdrawn brother films his family.

Second film in the Death Press series by Real Video

Follows the treatment of Minamata disease patients

Filmed during MISIA's "The Tour of MISIA 2003" live concert tour that covered 10 cities, giving 20 shows. Songs center around her album "Kiss in the Sky."

Among the ”Red Guards“ of China’s Cultural Revolution were foreign children, the sons and daughters of both European and American ex-pats who left their home countries to help build Mao’s China. Eventually, Chinese society turned against them and they were persecuted as foreign spies. Some served time in prison, others were sent to labor camps.

MAD Video mondo film exploring the Nazi death camps.

This is a propaganda film that promotes Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and orders that Koreans to be ready for battle and armed with the Yamato (Japanese) spirit. Women are exhorted to donate a spoonful of rice each time they cook, while men are advised to quit drinking and smoking and donate the money they save to the war effort. The film illustrates how the Japanese colonial rule gave each person a role, however small, so that everyone could serve in the wartime machine. Acquired in 1993.

A collection of haunted videos that are said to have been suppressed so that no one could see them, in order to bring death to those involved. Contains terrifying footage such as "The Room You Don't Want to Stay", in which a TV show finds itself in an unexpected situation due to a psychic experiment, and "The Creeper", in which a mysterious phenomenon attacks a house in a remote area.

A compilation of Ozu's shots of trains and cars selected from his filmography from 1928 to 1962.

Many people in Germany have decided to phase out nuclear power plants and switch to renewable energy sources by 2022. The film traces the postwar path of German citizens who continue to think and act on their own initiative, and explores the hope for “Morgen” (German for “tomorrow”) that they have found.

Documentary about agar production.

Film by Kenji Onishi. With friends. Mr. Yamase as main character, Sasakubo and Shinojima. And the girls having a good time. The camera is all you need. Looking still at the Mt. Buko which is disappearing.

In the year 2020, when the world was forced to ‘change’, I wanted to confirm what changed and what did not change in me. The white mask I wore became the screen projecting my past. My family is sometimes hurt, but support me as I suffer from schizophrenia. We live today while looking for the answer to ‘Who are we?’

A steam locomotive that runs on a trip and the beautiful four seasons of Japan.

Three men set off from Kameari in Tokyo, riding their mama-chari all the way to Kyoto. Along the way, despite several close calls with death, their journey was filled with laughter. Enjoying the thrill of traveling with easygoing friends, the three pedaled their mama-chari toward Kyoto.

Documentary on the development on trains, with animated sequences.

HEAR EVERYTHING is a short film about the 2× Grammy Award-winning producer and beatmaker, Knxwledge. The film traces his journey from Los Angeles to Tokyo, where he embarks on a deeply personal musical and cultural exploration of the city he now calls home. For the first time on film, Knxwledge opens up about his path from a church-going kid, for whom video game music was among the only sounds he could hear besides gospel. To winning Grammys and eventually creating music for the very games that first inspired him. Part documentary, part love letter to Japan, the film follows Knxwledge as he immerses himself in a new environment, drawing constant inspiration from the people he meets and making beats at every possible moment. Always in headphones as he road-tests the ATH-R50x throughout his journey. Featuring appearances from J Rocc, Mndsgn, The Alchemist, Anderson .Paak, and some of Japan’s most influential figures in contemporary culture.

This documentary was produced on the request of the Korean railway-organisation during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The news-coverage in those days was aimed at strengthening the public opinion that Korea and Japan were indissolubly allied. This film, as many other films in those days, was meant to clearly propagate this pact. However, the director of this film, Shimizu Hiroshi, only shows streetscenes. He films without the ideology that was so common in this kind of films. He registers the people in the street in their daily occupations.

This documentary highlights three years in the life of Ms. RYAN Eehon. She came to Japan after the Korean War from Cheju Island, South Korea and now lives alone in Osaka. She was born in 1916 and is 87 years old. We started this project when we came across an old film from 38 years ago, made by Mr. SHIN Gis, a researcher of Japanese-Korean history. The film describes the life of an ama diver and how she sent her children to North Korea with the repatriation program. Combining the old footage with present day footage, this film was finally completed successfully with the help of a Japanese and Korean camera crew and a family member of Ms. Ryan. The film describes the history of a Korean woman in Japan, her visit to homeland Cheju Island after a 53-year absence and her final visit to North Korea in 2003. It deals with the tragedy brought on by the conflict between the two nations and the significance of the family bond.

A photograph of Aihara’s grandmother, overlapped with a tranquil documentary style animation of her life ending at her funeral scene.

Eiko Kanno is a 79 year old grandmother whose life has been completely changed by the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Her life should have been with her grandchildren but because of the disaster which caused her entire village of Iitate to be evacuated. She now lives by herself in temporary housing. Yoshiko Kanno and her extended family are very important to her changed life. Yoshiko Kanno lost her parents in the evacuation and she found herself living next door to Eiko Kanno. They entertain themselves by telling jokes to each other like a comedic duo. They now live together.

Ayano Tsukimi, a 64-year-old resident of the largely-abandoned village of Nagoro, has sewed around 350 life-size dolls to represent the many townsfolk who have died or moved away since more bustling days when a factory sustained hundreds of residents.

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Sai Enterprise's Ginî piggu 4: Pîtâ no akuma no joi-san.

French as a Foreign Language classes at the University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis. In two of the classes that focus on literature and gender, the film captures the free-spirited discussions among teachers and students both from France and abroad.

Following six young volunteers in the tsunami-devastated Arahama district in Sendai.

A powerful documentary about the ancient songs that have been sung and passed down from generation to generation, and the people who pass them on! The fire of the rituals has been passed down from person to person for centuries, and the tsukasamma (divine maidens) offer up the 'divine song' with their wishes for life. 90+ year old women travel to Tokyo to sing the 'divine song' with all their might to a concert hall full of people. The director, Koichi Onishi, follows the hidden rituals of the island and stays close to the old people who knew the time when life, faith and song were one, vividly projecting the miraculous island of Myaak, where the original life still remains. Miyako Island, Okinawa - Myaak. We are struck by the shock that such a rich world existed, and by a strange nostalgia.

A special feature included with the Juzo Itami Film Collection about the production of "Shizuka na Seikatsu" a.k.a. "A Quiet Life".

Documentary on Japanese flamenco dancer Yasuko Nagamine

A visual experiment in crowd-sourcing, "Soft Pong Inari" was made entirely from pre-existing photographs of Fushimi Inari Shrine, available for modified re-use in the creative commons. The film explores how a multi-subjective viewpoint can express a sense of place and atmosphere. The soundtrack is a study by Swedish composer Palle Dahlstedt.

Decade with you

Six of Japan’s emerging design talents collaborate with six models with diverse personalities and bodies, some accompanied by wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs. The Quest: to push the limits of fashion as we know it.

A documentary on the turbulent life and final years of Rui Itō (伊藤ルイ), the fourth daughter of the thinker Noe Itō (伊藤野枝)—who was murdered alongside Sakae Ōsugi (大杉栄) by the military police—and herself a civic activist. Beginning at age 54, Rui devoted herself to grassroots human rights movements. When diagnosed with cancer shortly before turning 74, she refused life-prolonging treatment and chose to die a natural death.

A Japanese former gangster recounts how his life changed after forging an unlikely kinship with Chicano gang members while serving time in the U.S. prison system.

When filmmaker/essayist Sasaki Yusuke accepted a job offer in the city of Tottori, the first thing he wanted to know was how many cinemas there were. The answer was depressing: just one. But when Sasaki started to explore his new home, gallivanting through its streets and alleys, he found traces of a plentiful culture of alternative screening venues. The founder of Tottori’s oldest cinema club is still organising projections; another elderly gentleman discovered the political importance of documentary films decades ago and has shared it ever since with his audiences; a curator at the city’s toy museum thought that showing animation films might deepen people’s appreciation of their exhibition. Where two or three gather in its name, there is cinema. In its emphasis on ordinary people and the social value of film screenings, Cinephilia Now is unlike any other current documentary on the love for cinema.

An artist welcomes his friends to an exhibition of his work, but finds himself unable to leave when it closes.

Matsuko Deluxe explores the seemingly familiar yet overlooked facets of Japanese culture through real-life experiences.

Companion piece to "Extremely Good Landscapes" focusing on Takuma Nakahira

Naomi Kawase goes to the south of Japan in search of her family origins on Amami Island, with her four-year-old son Mitsuki. They meet parents, chat with the island’s inhabitants, eat traditional goat soup, observe a total solar eclipse. By reconnecting the threads of her family history, Naomi Kawase gradually fills the void left by her parents' abandonment.

This is a film about seven artists. It's also a film about seven people who are mentally handicapped. In the course of this touching film, we discover how art may provide a route to the human interior.