Yearly on the Tokyo Worldwide Movie Competition, the programming group makes an effort to champion rising expertise that challenges preconceived notions of what Japanese cinema is or may be. Via their Ladies’s Empowerment and Nippon Cinema Now strands, the pageant typically showcases new work from feminine and non-binary filmmakers who deliver their distinctive worldview to the large display screen. On the 2025 version of the pageant, three of essentially the most thrilling filmmakers exhibiting their work had been Mika Imai (Kiiroiko), Chihiro Amano (Sato and Sato) and Keiko Tsuruoka (Saikai Paradise) whose movies confront notions of affection, household, belonging and residential. Amid the frenzy of the pageant, we caught up with these three trailblazing filmmakers to seek out out what informs their creative observe.
Mika Imai
Kiiroiko (the Japanese phrase for ‘yellow’) tells the story of a deaf father and son who develop into separated throughout a vacation to Taipei. Unable to speak with locals as a result of language and listening to barrier, they frantically attempt to discover their manner again to at least one one other, and within the course of uncover what they could have in frequent with the Taiwanese deaf neighborhood. Kiiroiko is Imai’s third function movie.
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LWLies: How did you first develop an curiosity in filmmaking as a deaf individual?
Imai: I grew up in a household of all Deaf folks. My mother and father are Deaf, and my youthful brother can be Deaf — a household of 4 Deaf folks. Clearly, our device for communication was Japanese Signal Language. On the college for the deaf again then, signal language was prohibited, and we had been pressured to coach tips on how to pronounce phrases as a substitute. Nonetheless, at house, we acquired to make use of signal language, which was very snug. I grew up not figuring out why it was like this.
After I was within the 6th grade, my father purchased a house video digicam. I was very shut with my youthful brother as a result of I couldn’t talk effectively with the folks within the neighborhood, so we might at all times play collectively, and we began to shoot [with the video camera]. It was so fascinating to look at myself signing on movie, and I was so impressed watching it as a result of in deaf tradition there aren’t any letters, so if you wish to document something, visible must be the device. There’s such an affinity between deaf tradition and visible photographs. I stored taking part in, utilizing the video digicam, and finally by way of the enjoyable I had, I began to make movies. The man who performs the daddy of the lacking little one within the movie is my youthful brother, Akito.
No manner! He’s a nice actor.
I’m so grateful for his presence. With out him I wouldn’t be making movies. We’ve been growing our careers collectively.
That’s lovely that you’ve one another for assist. I really wished to ask about casting the movie, as a result of it’s actually pretty to see so many deaf actors on display screen. It doesn’t occur fairly often in any language. I puzzled the way you went about casting – clearly, together with your brother, you didn’t must look very laborious. However particularly since you’re working with Taiwanese actors as effectively, what method did you have?
Properly for 10 years I have been related on a regular basis with the Taiwan Worldwide Deaf Movie Competition, which sadly not exists because the pandemic. However I have been in contact with folks I have met by way of that movie pageant. Additionally, as a result of the movie contains the Affiliation for the Deaf in Taiwan, I puzzled tips on how to go about casting folks, as a result of there are hardly any skilled deaf actors in Taiwan. So, I thought to make it look actual, why don’t I ask the precise individuals who work at this affiliation to seem within the movie? And that’s precisely what occurred. And as for CODA (Youngsters of Deaf Adults), listening to folks with deaf mother and father, they’re precise CODA individuals who act in it. Tom, the boy carrying yellow, is the son of my youthful brother. Conserving it within the household! Tom may be very all for appearing, and really taking appearing classes, so I thought this is able to be good.
