PARK CITY, UTAH – JANUARY 20: Hanna Avqilin, Shiori Ito, and Ema Ryan Yamazaki attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival “Black Box Diaries” premiere at Prospector Square Theatre. (Photo by Marc Sagliocco/Shutterstock for Sundance)
By Stephanie Ornelas
You would think that the word “funny” wouldn’t be used at all when talking about a story as harrowing as Black Box Diaries, but director Shiori Ito tells her story with such class and bravery — that’s just the kind of person she is.
In her documentary, which premiered at Prospector Square Theatre at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on January 20, Ito puts a lens on herself as she embarks on a bold investigation of her own sexual assault in an attempt to bring down her high-profile abuser.
“This is a film about my own rape investigation, but it’s comedy. And it was all her job,” she says, pointing to editor Ema Ryan Yamazaki. “We wouldn’t have a film if it wasn’t for this editor.”
Yamazaki explains that Ito didn’t have any memory of her recordings and didn’t go back to listen to them or watch them. “So, I sat for a few months and watched everything every day, just crying and being shocked. I thought, ‘How would I even show this to her?’” Yamazaki says. But she knew she had to, and that they needed to have a conversation about it. “I’m glad I was able to help tell your story,” she says to Ito.
Ito already had written a memoir back in 2017, and she was ready to take on the next project: a feature documentary. But what made her want to tell her story in this way?
“We obviously knew the police weren’t doing a great job,” she says. “They just [swept] everything under the rug. When I went public and saw the reaction of society, I saw how the media are not trying to cover it. And I said,’Well let’s just do the story. Why not?’ So I decided to keep documenting.”
Ito explains that the hardest part for her was post-production. “As a journalist, it’s so taboo to talk about my own story, and I didn’t know how much emotion to put in.”
When asked how she went about assembling her film team, Ito explains, “[Producer] Hanna [Aqvilin] came as a human shield. If you want to make a controversial film, bring [someone who is] Swedish,” she laughs with the audience.
“When we first started this journey, it was before Me Too. So, imagine: She was one of the first to go public… in Japan,” chimes in Aqvilin. “Listen, I’m Sweden, so I was a little bit shocked. And we just continued to film because we knew this was important. We didn’t know if this was supposed to be a film because it was so hard. But you never ever hesitated,” she says to Ito. “You were so determined. You never gave up, ever. And I’m so proud and amazed that you are so brave.”
Ito gave a nod to producer Eric Nyari: “Every time we had a difficult night, Eric made sure that I had my three glasses of wine,” she smiles. “Without him, this wouldn’t have happened, so thank you, Eric.”
“We went from boxed wine to natural wine,” Nyari laughs, as does the audience.
But there are pockets of lightheartedness, humor, and even joy in the film. This was clearly a serious film but as Yamazaki says, “I mean she’s so funny, right? It’s unavoidable. There’s so much incredible footage, but what was left was something I felt that the world has never seen before. There were things that made me laugh, maybe when I shouldn’t have, but I watched it 100 times and it still makes me chuckle, especially when you get to know her as a person. It was impossible to make this film without those moments. Because as you see today, that’s who she is. Serious films can be funny too. People are complex, and I think films can [also] be that way.”
As the documentary progresses, viewers witness Ito’s story become a landmark case in Japan, as she works to expose the country’s outdated judicial system. And what helped her get through it was knowing that she had a community behind her.
“Even my own community, my own family, my own circle of friends in Japan were not ready for this. But I knew that a place like Sundance exists. I always say there’s another world who will always stand with you, who will always believe you.”
To see more from the 2024 Festival, click here.
