Movies: Makiko Watanabe

The growth and struggles of Akari, a third-generation Korean born the year of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. A post-disaster story based on people living in Kobe....

Four short films produced without a director...

About an energetic kindergarden student and the people around him...

Near-future Tokyo. Kou, through the help of his high school best friend, finds a surprising way to express his mounting frustration at the insidious forces of commercialism that are forcing out the neighbors he cares most about. Initially inspired by...

Hinako comes across the novel “Tamaran Hill” and immediately starts reading it with delight, as “tamaran” (intolerable) happens to be her father’s favorite swear word. She soon imagines herself inside the book’s story, which also deals with someone i...

Another psychodrama, this time revolving around an SM club....

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Mika (Marie Ono), a Japanese-American woman, returns to her native Saitama hometown and becomes a therapist for a "nemuriba" ("a place to sleep")....

Following the 2011 tsunami, three women reunite in the family home only to rekindle tense, ruinous relationships....

A filmmaker is constantly on the move after recently ending a relationship. As she travels alone between Beijing, Nanjing, Hong Kong and Japan, she observes and engages with her ever-changing environs while seeking an inner calm....

In the summer of 1963, flats of modern construction begin to be built in the slums where vagrants and women of the night gather. The city hall's plan is to house the slum dwellers in cultural housing, complete with gas and running water. Kenji, a co...

Ryoko hides herself in a closet after a patron in her restaurant becomes ill from food poisoning & she is held responsible. Her husband and co-owner Daichi attempts to lure her out of the closet. After a violent argument with Daichi, Ryoko seeks out ...