Black Box Diaries
November 29 - December 1, 2024
In this nonfiction procedural that cuts right to the heart, a journalist takes on Japan’s patriarchal sociopolitical system as she investigates her own sexual assault, using her camera to detail every step of the grueling eight-year process to attain justice. 2024 IDA Documentary Awards - Emerging Filmmaker Award.
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“Shiori Itō changed the world. And Black Box Diaries is a monument to her determination and sacrifice, as well as one of the best documentaries you’ll see all year.”—Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone
A young journalist becomes the story after she refuses to stay quiet about a sexual assault at the hands of one of Japan’s most well-connected men. Before the #MeToo movement would make waves across the globe, Shiori Ito decided to go public when police dropped their investigation against the man who attacked her, a close personal friend of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ito documents her fight for justice in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, knowing that she risks her livelihood and her life by speaking out. This harrowing and heartfelt record of her struggle to change cultural and legal attitudes shows Ito at her most tenacious and vulnerable. While she builds a cadre of close and sometimes unlikely allies to support her as she presses forward, ultimately the weight is hers to bear. Equal parts personal diary, elaborate criminal investigation, and indictment of the Japanese cultural norms that subjugate women, Black Box Diaries merges the intimate and the universal in presenting the brutal journey Ito must make as she becomes the face of sexual assault survivors in Japan.
—Betsy Cass
- Director: Shiori Ito
- Principal Cast: Shiori Ito
- Country: Japan, USA, United Kingdom
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 104 min.
- Producer: Eric Nyari, Hanna Aqvilin
- Screenplay: Shiori Ito
- Cinematographers: Hanna Aqvillin, Yuta Okamura, Shiori Ito, Keke Shiratama, Yuichiro Otsuka
- Editors: Ema Ryan Yamazaki
- Music: Mark De Gli Antoni
- Awards: CPH:DOX 2024 (Human Rights Award)
- Filmography: Debut Feature Film
- Language: Japanese, English
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: Dogwoof Ltd