Mizuko YAMAOKA 山岡瑞子
Maelstrom
マエルストロム
Nippon Docs ¾
Mizuko YAMAOKA graduates from art school in New York in 2002 and is living her dream far away from home. After a bicycle accident, she has to depend on a wheelchair and must return to her parents in Japan. Yet, even then, she refuses to give up. With striking private footage, MAELSTROM is a personal documentary about believing in art, the struggle to fulfill one’s wishes and the value of life.
マエルストロム
Maerusutoromu
Japan 2022
79 minutes
Director
Mizuko YAMAOKA
Cinematography
Mizuko YAMAOKA, Mitsuhiro HONDA, Koichi HIRANO, Tomoko TAKAHASHI
Music
Aya OSHIDA
World sales
MAP inc.
About Mizuko YAMAOKA
山岡瑞子
Mizuko YAMAOKA was born in Tokyo in 1974, moved to New York in 1998 and obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute in 2002. Due to an accident that paralyzed her legs, she had to return to Japan. After a long break, she then went to Denmark for ten months to learn cinematography and editing. Afterwards, she studied documentary film at the Film School of Tokyo. In 2016, she shot her first short film THE LOST COIN in Barcelona. MAELSTROM (2022 / NC ’23) is her feature-length debut.