Continuing her fight to tell the world the truth about her sexual assault case, journalist Shiori Ito released Black Box Diaries. Like her book, it’s a powerful documentary. Filmed with actual CCTV evidence, with some witness accounts, and with recordings she made while investigating her case, Ito’s first foray into film is personal, vulnerable, and intimate, going through the events as it naturally unfolds. While it is depressing to witness the ways investigators, lawyers, politicians and other people have failed her, Black Box Diaries immediately reveals Ito’s resolve for the truth, and how taxing the toll was for survivors that chose to take the same path.
"“Black Box Diaries” is an anguished and urgent personal documentary—a film of investigation, confrontation, and action."
— Richard Brody
"This film is a cry of pain inflicted by Yamaguchi when she went public about the attack and by Japanese law, culture, and media."
— Nell Minow
Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country's outdated judicial and societal systems.
Despite her case initially dismissed by the police, journalist Shiori Ito investigates her own sexual assault, which transforms into a landmark case that sparks the Me Too movement in Japan.
The actual handwriting from her journal is occasionally scribbled over, starting with the very first shots. It’s a personal touch, but it’s also helpful to structure the entire film.
Thank you, Shiori Ito, for breaking open the black box.
Oscars
1 nomination
BAFTA
1 nomination
Sundance
1 nomination
Nat. Board of Review
1 win
