A successful Japanese interior designer travels to Joshua Tree with her American boyfriend and must confront her stagnant relationship while struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide.

English

29 Palms

An inexperienced astral projector seeks his grandmother’s wisdom after meeting an uncanny woman in a place transcending reality.

Adrift

A man battles with how to find love while at a viewing of the Japanese dating show Day to Night.

Day to Night

In ancient Japan, a pair of lovers are pursued by shinobi vampires.

Daylight

Gaku Takahashi, a veteran professional Japanese boxer who trains in LA, was forced to give up his boxing career due to a violent anti-Asian hate crime on an LA freeway in 2020. The film follows Gaku as he faces chronic pain from the attack and financial difficulties as a result of systemic injustice. Despite these obstacles, Gaku works to overcome physical and mental trauma and pursue justice, all while fighting to get back into the ring.

Gaku: One Last Round

Sixteen-year-old Shun Kimura, suffocated by his violent father and fragile mother, struggles with peer pressure and his relationship with his girlfriend, Hana. As domestic abuse worsens, a tragic event underscores the profound impact on his identity and relationships, leaving his fragile adolescence in turmoil.

Heirs  受け継ぐ者

Does love mean staying beside those closest to you no matter what, or is the hardest but healthiest choice sometimes to step back and away from a harmful situation? A brother and a sister, bound together by a childhood promise, move together from Japan to the United States and must both face the realities of adulthood by making difficult resolutions. In "Parallels of Self", the difference between what "self" means to different people, and how one's self affects others, is explored.

Homura: Parallels of Self 心の声

A Japanese-American dance duo must choose between their passion or their lives as WWII concentration camps begin to rise in the U.S.

Infinity!

An engineer meets a robot abused by her owner.The engineer tries to erase the robot's memory so that she can forget al the painfulthings.But she begs the engineer not to treat the violence inflicted upon her as though it hadnever happened. 彼女は名もないロボットだ。&nbsp;いつも持ち主から暴力を受けては、修理屋である私のもとに送られてくる。&nbsp;結果は同じだと分かっていながら、私は彼女の記憶を消して、持ち主の元に送り返す。ロボットには何の権利もないのだから、仕方がないでしょう?&nbsp;辛い記憶なんて、ロボットだって忘れた方が楽なはずだ。 でもある夜、彼女は、記憶を消さないでほしいと言った。自分が受けた暴力を、なかったことにしないでほしいと。

Jodie

After a wrenching setback, a woman discovers a path for moving forward.

Last Year's Tomorrow

MIMASAKA STORIES Story1&nbsp;" No one knows MIMASAKA BANCHA"Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture. Asuka, a third-year high school student who grew up on a historic tea farm, spends her days studying for entrance exams.The reason for this was also to distract her from the wall she faced with her quiet father.Her father, who seems to have dedicated his entire life to making tea, somehow keeps his daughter Asuka away from tea.One day in the middle of summer, my best friend Moeno decided to film her father making Bancha tea.Something begins to stir in Asuka's heart. 美作物語　Story1　誰も知らない美作番茶岡山県美作市。歴史あるお茶農家で育った高校３年生のアスカは受験勉強に逃げていた。理由は寡黙な父親との壁。人生の全てをお茶作りに捧げてきたような父が、なぜかアスカをお茶から遠ざける。そんな真夏のある日、親友の萌乃が番茶作りをする父の撮影取材をすることに。過酷な暑さでの製茶作業の中、親子には壊せない壁をいとも簡単に越える親友と父。そして美しく輝きだす煮汁と茶葉。彼女の心の中で、何かが決壊する。

MIMASAKA Story1 "No one knows MIMASAKA BANCHA" 美作物語　誰も知らない美作番茶

MIMASAKA STORIES&nbsp;Sroty2&nbsp;" A Midsummer Film's Reverie " "Take a picture of my remains..."An old woman calls out.In the summer of her third year of high school, Moeno's dream of becoming a film director, which she had declared to her best friend, was shattered, and she returned to her hometown of Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture, for the first time in 10 years.Wandering without a destination, she is shaken by sudden words from a strange woman, but she decides to make this her last work, and the two of them head to the town of Mimasaka.An old woman leaves a mysterious message to Moeno, who briefly smiles at the history of people and the cityscape of her hometown.Then her best friend Asuka tells her a story from the past. 美作物語　Story2　真夏の遺影 「私の遺影を撮って…」。一人の老婆が声をかける。高校3年の夏、親友に宣言した映画監督への夢破れ、10年ぶりに故郷の岡山県美作市に帰ってきた萌乃。行く宛てもなく彷徨っていた彼女は、見知らぬ女性からの突然の言葉に動揺するが、これを最後の作品にしようと心に決め、二人は美作の街へ。人の歴史や故郷の街並みに束の間の笑顔を見せる萌乃に、謎めいた言葉を残した老婆。そして親友のアスカが、彼女にある過去を告げる。

MIMASAKA Story2 " A Midsummer Film's Reverie "  美作物語2　真夏の遺影

Okinawa is Everywhere: Ichariba Chode is a 7-minute, 59-second short-form documentary that weaves a vibrant tapestry of Okinawa’s boundless spirit, capturing its global resonance through the lens of Okinawa Americana, a band rooted in the island’s soul. Directed by Adam Lewis and written/narrated by David Ralston, this Japan-based film traces Ralston’s 30-year journey as an outsider claimed by Okinawa, revealing how its culture—embodied in the proverb Ichariba Chode (“Once we meet, we are brothers and sisters”)—transcends borders to connect hearts worldwide. From the turquoise waters of Okinawa to stages in Nashville and São Paulo, the film explores the island’s enduring influence through its diaspora, military ties, karate legacy, and chance encounters, like that with a world-class Australian photographer whose stunning visuals shape this story. Archival footage, sweeping drone shots, and Okinawa Americana’s evocative music blend to honor descendants in Brazil, veterans in Tennessee, and seekers drawn to Okinawa’s coral kingdoms. Each frame pulses with the island’s ethos of kinship, culminating in a poignant moment with a 94-year-old WWII veteran whose tears bridge 1945 to today. Shot in Japan and infused with global perspectives, Okinawa is Everywhere: Ichariba Chode is both a personal odyssey and a universal hymn to connection, crafted to resonate with audiences from Okinawan communities to festival-goers. Its concise yet powerful narrative, paired with cinematic visuals and a heartfelt score, makes it a compelling entry for festivals and awards, celebrating a place that lives in every soul it touches. 「沖縄はどこにでも」 は、沖縄文化とその世界的なディアスポラを「いちゃりばちょーでー」の精神を通じて祝う心温まる短編映画です。那覇の活気ある三線のメロディから、ハワイやブラジルのたくましいコミュニティに至るまで、沖縄のアイデンティティが国境を越えてどのように繁栄しているかを探ります。沖縄アメリカーナのデビッド・ラルストンによるナレーションがあり、ブルー・パシフィック・メディアのアダム・ルイスと共同制作されたこの視覚的に豊かな物語は、文化的な誇りと普遍的なつながりを称え、遺産と帰属の物語を織り交ぜています。

Okinawa is Everywhere: Ichariba Chode

Several years after the U.S. government’s forced incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans during WWII, a Japanese immigrant family runs a struggling dry-cleaning business in Chicago.&nbsp; 第二次世界大戦終了後、アメリカの強制収容所から釈放されたものの、わずか25ドル余りとバスの片道切符だけを与えられ、シカゴでクリーニング店を始めた日本人移民家族の再生の物語。実話を基に、強制収容所生存者が特別出演。

Resettlement Chicago Story  シカゴ物語

This film explores the enduring passion of the people of Tsuchizaki as they prepare for their beloved festival.It asks not just how they keep the tradition alive—but why that passion never fades.Through the vibrant rhythms, community rituals, and deeply rooted cultural spirit,the story reveals the richness and meaning behind the Tsuchizaki Hikiyama Festival.

Tsuchizaki Port Hikiyama Festival　土崎港曳山祭り

Yume (夢) follows the story of Yorishiro, a man haunted by the fragmented memories of a past love named Yume, whose sudden disappearance has left a profound emptiness in his life. Desperate to understand what happened to her—and perhaps to himself—he seeks the help of Doctor Razi, an enigmatic therapist pioneering a technology called the Dream- Machine, a device designed to unlock hidden memories and subconscious truths. Yume explores the fragility of memory, the longing for lost love, and the fine line between reality and dreams in the shadowed alleys of Tokyo.

Yume 夢

“I want to disappear” is written in the dirt of the park. This story follows a boy who dreamsof becoming a villain and a girl waiting for her mother in a park at night.These two strangerscommunicate solely through messages written in the dirt. ｢消えたい｣公園の土に書かれた文字｡ヴィランに憧れる少年と､夜の公園で母親を待つ少女｡顔も知らない二人の文字だけの交流｡

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We will schedule on Sep. 1-14 2025 on-demand and theater screenings.  Venue: The Japan Foundation LA,  Hang On To The Dream Theater,  JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles  & OAA , New Gardena Hotel, Newport Beach Higashi Honganji

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