Ryuichi SHIMADA 島田隆一
A Son
Nippon Docs ¾
Yuki, a social worker, supports orphaned teenagers in becoming independent adults. He meets Wataru and later adopts the now 20-year-old. While Wataru dreams of a career in the entertainment industry, Yuki advocates gay rights. Ryuichi SHIMADA’s film documents their unconventional relationship, raising questions on defining family in a blood-tie-focused society.
About Ryuichi SHIMADA
島田隆一
Ryuichi SHIMADA was born in Tokyo Prefecture in 1981. After graduating from the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, he worked as an assistant director and also made many industrial PR videos. For his first feature-length film NOWHERE TO GO, he received the New Directors Award of the Directors Guild of Japan. After that, he has worked for many film projects as producer and editor. UNDER THE CHERRY TREE (2015 / NC ’16), which he produced, won the Nippon Visions Audience Award in 2016 and other awards. He is currently a professor at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image.