Issue:
December 2025
Landmark film gets long-awaited Japan release
Join the Film Committee and the Professional Activities Committee at 1 pm on Monday, December 15 for a special English/Japanese-subtitled screening of journalist Shiori Ito’s critically acclaimed documentary Black Box Diaries, followed by a press conference with Ito and her producers, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvila. In the film, Ito conducts a seven-year investigation into her own sexual assault case and its subsequent handling by authorities, in the process laying bare Japan's patriarchal judicial, political and societal structures — and exposing Ito herself to intense public scrutiny and vilification. Documenting her difficult and often solitary battle with the justice system, Black Box Diaries reveals how the case helped catalyze the 2023 revision of Japan's antiquated law on sexual offenses, and contributed to a broader cultural shift, bringing new attention to sexual assault and gender-based violence in Japan. It became the first Japanese film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary (2025), won a prestigious 2025 Peabody Award and was released in the United States and other overseas markets. In Japan, however, the release was delayed amid a campaign to reduce the film's narrative to a dispute over the use of footage obtained without explicit consent, including surveillance material that has become one of the film's defining elements. Ito has since made changes and adjustments to address Japanese privacy concerns while preserving the substance and message of the film. The edited version for the Japanese market will be screened at FCCJ. (Black Box Diaries, Japan, USA, UK, 2024, 102 minutes, English and Japanese with English and Japanese subtitles).
FCCJ Film Committee and Professional Activities Committee
