Discover Movies

A documentary depicting the lives of the people of the Benposta Children's Republic, a community in the suburbs of Orense, Spain, where they study, work and live at the same time.

Documentary on the potter Arakawa Toyozo

Shizuka recorded live at Manda-la2, Tokyo on November 8, 1993, and at Studio AMS on August 12, 1994.

Kenji Onishi short film time-lapse projection at YIDFF 2013 (Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival).

A workshop called "Children's Film Workshop" was held in Miyazaki during the Corona disaster in December 2020. The documentary "Kodomo ga Eiga wo Tsukuru Toki (When Children Make Movies)," in which children played the leading roles, follows 12 children who have never met each other before as they make and screen a film in three days, will be distributed for two weeks only!

Super 8 film of Ally Mobb's 30th birthday party Sept. 28th, 2014. Shot on a single 50ft roll of Kodak 100D reversal film. Edited in camera. Song "Littlestar" by Ally Mobbs.

The man closed the Cinema 55 years ago. Even so, people are coming. The man also put a fire on the projector today. “I will never let it go!”

Considered to be the father of modern karate and the originator of the shotokan style, Sensei Gichin Funakoshi is captured on this remarkable documentary film demonstrating the Tekki 1, 2 & 3 katas and the meykyo kata shot c. 1924. Shot on location at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan at the Keio Karatebu (Karate club of Keio) which was the first University to adopt Karate into it's physical education curriculum. In addition to Sensei Funakoshi, there is lots of other footage covering the training of the University students and summer training camps (Shochu keiko) at the beach. (Ryukyu)

Survivors of the tsunami in Japan have the bittersweet experience of getting back family photos found in the debris.

Concert film and documentary featuring live footage from melody's first solo live tour recorded between June and July in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka.

An educational film about gender equality in society in the 21st century.

Kudaka Island in Nanjo City, Okinawa Prefecture, has long been known as an island of the gods. Around thirty religious rites are woven into the life of the island each year, and they are still solemnly preserved and passed down by the islanders today. The greatest of these rituals is the “Izaihō,” held once every twelve years in the Year of the Horse. “Izaihō” is a sacred rite in which women between the ages of 30 and 41, born and raised on the island, become priestesses or divine women. Centered around a four-day main ceremony, the ritual unfolds over the course of more than a month. The women of the island, led by the noro priestesses, formed a religious order that protected the men and the daily life of the community. This is a documentary record of the 1966 “Izaihō.”

The story of a Japanese scholar, Minoru Hokari, who, before his death in 2004 at the age of 32, achieved work which today commands an ever-widening audience. It is a story of cross-cultural understanding, how Gurindji Elders in the Northern Territory tasked Minoru to relay stories from their culture to a wider world.

“HANABIE.” is a girls' metalcore band whose innovative and hybrid sound—rooted in Metal and Loud music while incorporating dance music and traditional Japanese elements—has been generating buzz. Their major debut release showcases a style so striking that listeners might doubt whether it’s truly a girls’ band. Their January digital single “Osaki ni Shitsurei Shimasu.” gained rapid popularity on TikTok and other social media platforms, drawing attention from early listeners. Beyond appearances at major domestic festivals, the band is set to embark on an overseas tour starting in August, with confirmed performances in Europe and the United States, including spots at prominent international festivals. The limited first edition includes exclusive documentary footage closely covering the band’s journey through member departures and additions, along with rare bonus videos revealing the offstage, personal sides of the members—moments not usually seen in live performances.

The film explores notions of home and belonging in contemporary society. Comprising interviews with workers at the Edo Tokyo Open Air Architecture Museum in Tokyo, and fragments of conversations with renters in that city and London, a productive dialectic opens between the museum’s preserved historical ideal of the domestic and the often unsettling realities of temporary accommodation in modern cities. Combining trademark immersive sound design with impressionistic images and abstractions, Quaintance crafts an austere, oneiric and subtly affecting portrait of residential precarity.

Released in September 1942 by Nippon Eigasha, this 55-minute kokusaku (national policy) documentary follows Japanese paratroopers through every stage of their training—from gymnastics and parachute packing to tower drills and their first jumps from aircraft. Produced under the supervision of the Army Aviation Headquarters, the film embodied wartime ideology and propaganda aims. Widely popular at home and in occupied territories, it was accompanied by a theme song that helped brand its soldiers as “saviors from the sky.”

Micronesia transitioned from Spanish, German, and Japanese colonies to American rule. The film follows survivors of the Pacific War, including conscripts from Korea, and questions the history of the modern era of invasion.

A short documentary film by Soh Ideuchi.

Homecoming is a two-track visual poem following Akio Yuguchi’s journey back into his childhood and his quest for coming to terms with living abroad far from his former home. Facing up to past and future challenges, the protagonist decides to send a letter of condolence to his father, who lives in Japan in a high-risk area for earthquakes and tsunamis. Through the rhythm of his reflective soliloquy, the desire for homecoming sounds a bell for the departed while heralding the dawn of a new life.

A film that looks back at the death of his sister in his childhood, dealing with personal grief and guilt from past and present.

A re-examination of the case of Masumi Hayashi, sentenced to death for arsenic poisoning of 63 victims at a summer festival in 1998.

This documentary explores karakami, a patterned decorative paper hand printed onto washi. The director visits the Karacho studio, established 400 years ago, whose 11th generation master - Kenkichi Senda, still produces karakami using the original woodblocks from the studio's founding. We see how pattern making developed, drawing inspiration from other cultures, back in time to the rock carvings at Val Camonica.

A vivid portrayal of the world of so-called “tekiya” street hawkers who make a living on the fringes of festivals, centering on the big boss of the entire Kyushu region.

The extraordinary journey of John Kaizan Neptune, a California surfer turned Japanese shakuhachi master who became the world's leading player and innovator of this traditional instrument, as told through his son's perspective.

Documentary celebrating the life and work of Yasujiro Ozu, fifty years after his death.

The life of a buddhist nun living at a remote mountain temple is full of blessings, where she uses the bounty of her garden to prepare vegetarian cuisine for visitors.

Documentary following a group of Japanese performance artists at a cosplay event. Features both candid shots and performances.

Documentary about the early Mirai Mizue animation films between 2003-2010

A documentary in which artists with various tendencies, including homosexuality, fetishism, body modification, and drug addiction, express themselves in striking ways. Mapping the Future, Nishinari director Tanaka Yukio reports on notable figures in the underground scene in Kansai. Through his gay manga creator friend Daikokudo Miro, filmmaker Tanaka meets various sexual minorities such as drag queen Simone Fukayuki and transgender Azumi, and finds inspiration in their lifestyles.

Documentary following a group of young Okinawans and their fight against American bases in the islands.

"An Introduction to the Actual Condition of Taiwan" is the first film ever made in Taiwan. It was commissioned by the Japanese authorities to director Toyojirō Takamatsu (1872–1952) in 1907, twelve years after Japan occupied Taiwan, as a propaganda movie showing the progress of Taiwan under Japanese rule. The film is lost, but it is known from reviews in local newspapers that it featured a long staged scene of Japanese military repressing a revolt by Taiwanese indigenous people. The aboriginal theme reportedly occupied the longer part of the film. Others were devoted to depicting scenic locations, and the production of "exotic" goods such as bananas and coconuts. The film was criticized for presenting a romantic, exotic, and colonial view of Taiwan, ignoring its more modern industrial products and social problems.

A film by Shuhei Hatano / music by Shibata / Produced by Santana, Cotoya Zakka. Your summer is endless, but the end will come.

Documentary about the Nanjing (alt. Nanking) massacre, featuring interviews and accounts from both Japanese veterans and Chinese survivors

A 1954 documentary about Japanese fishermen aboard the "Lucky Dragon" who were irradiated by the American Castle Bravo nuclear test in the Pacific.

Documentary about Japanese subsidies for US Forces.

Deepening confusion becomes a delightful experience watching this collaborative film by Daniel Jacoby and Araki Yu. The documentary observes the idiosyncratic sounds and rhythms of Ban’ei, a rare kind of draft horse race that takes place only in Obihiro, Japan. Capturing the behind-the-scenes operations of the race, the film gradually twists itself into a knot as the excited voices of the commentators merge into a frenzy of gibberish.

Documentary

Shot surreptitiously by a crew operating without visas (then necessary for travel to Okinawa), this provocative film traces the legacy of Japanese colonialism, documenting Taiwanese laborers in Okinawa and then moving southward to Tayal village in Taiwan, where the anti-Japanese uprising known as the Musha Incident took place.

A small Japanese fishing village is home of a unique community for people with schizophrenia and other long term psychological and developmental disabilities.

Follows indigenous Dong people in a remote village in Guizhou, China.

16mm film, optical color. Uses the camera with deliberate technique to record Japan's leading punk band In a style that imbeds the music in a filmic texture.

the documentary short "The Stream XII" by Hiroya Sakuri (Japan)

The connection between wool and sheep is very deep. Wool is a necessary and important part of the sheep's body. Wool that protects and breathes sheep from cold in winter and strong sun in summer, rain and wind. If sheep adapt to the earth and are healthy, they will not be affected by any changes in the natural environment or weather, otherwise sheep and wool will suffer. A documentary film about the life of a sheep farm.

After leaving a public nursing home, Sato Masahiro lives alone in Sapporo but has such serious impairments that he requires 24-hour assistance. For that purpose, 40 social workers and volunteers come each week. The camera follows Masahiro’s life and depicts the people surrounding him. A joyful, fun and touching documentary.