Japanese filmmaker Fukunaga has recently released his latest feature-length movie “Ainu Mosir,” a touching coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old Ainu boy who is struggling with the death of his father, his emerging adulthood, and his traditional Ainu culture.
Takeshi Fukunaga is from Hokkaido, Japan and learned filmmaking in NY. After living in US for 16 years, he moved his base to Tokyo in 2019. His first feature film, Out of My Hand, premiered in the Panorama section at Berlinale in 2015, won U.S. Fiction Award, the top prize at LA Film Festival and Emerging Filmmaker Award at San Diego Asian American Film Festival. The film was later released through Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY in US, and nominated for John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award in 2016, followed by a successful release in Japan in 2017. Takeshi’s second feature film, Ainu Mosir was selected for Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation Residence and Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, and completed as a US/Japan/China co-production in 2020. The film won Special Jury Mention in International Narrative Competition at Tribeca Film Festival and Best Film at Guanajuato Film Festival. ARRAY is releasing the film in North America and other English territories on Netflix on Nov 17th, 2020. Takeshi is currently developing his third feature project, which is selected for Nipkow Program, a screenwriting residency in Berlin.