THE OZU DIARIES
Directed by Daniel Raim
137 minutes | 2025 | Japanese, English, Chinese, and French with English subtitles
NOW SCREENING
Green Mountain Film Festival
Vermont Premiere | March 13, 2026 – 12:30 pm
Sant Jordi Barcelona Film Festival
Spain Premiere
Hong Kong International Film Festival
Hong Kong Premiere | April 1–12, 2026
Wisconsin Film Festival
Wisconsin Premiere | April 11, 2026 – 2:00 pm
DISTRIBUTION
North America – Television
Turner Classic Movies (TCM)
North America – Theatrical, Home Video, Streaming
The Criterion Collection / Janus Films
France – Carlotta Films
Spain – A Contracorriente Films
South Korea – 영화사 진진 (Jinjin Pictures)
Japan – Shochiku
ABOUT THE FILM
THE OZU DIARIES, from Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim, offers both an intimate biography and revelatory portrait of Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu, one of cinema’s most original and enduring auteurs.
Drawing from a treasure trove of archival materials — journals, notebooks, correspondence, photographs, interviews and unseen home movies — the film opens a rare window into Ozu’s inner world and artistic process. With Ozu’s own words as guide, and enriched by reflections from filmmakers Wim Wenders, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tsai Ming-liang, Luc Dardenne and others, Raim traces how Ozu transformed personal loss and wartime trauma into enduring masterpieces such as LATE SPRING, TOKYO STORY and AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Ozu's films didn't come easily to me at first. But his poetic portraits of family life and loneliness lingered. An Autumn Afternoon became the gateway, not through plot or drama, but through presence. As Kiyoshi Kurosawa says in this documentary, "Watching Ozu for the first time, I felt I was glimpsing the very secret of cinema itself."
In 2017, while making a short film for The Criterion Collection titled In Search of Ozu, I sensed a deeper story waiting to be told: the human being behind the films. The most challenging part was confronting Ozu's wartime experience. His diaries from that period and postwar interviews reveal a rupture—a profound loss. As Masasumi Tanaka wrote, "Ozu survived the war. But we cannot deny that his humanity was in crisis."
And yet, in the decades that followed, he created some of the most tender, humorous, formally playful, and emotionally resonant films in cinema. This documentary is told largely in Ozu's own words. It's an attempt to sit with him across time—to understand his pain, his joy, his contradictions, and his singular way of seeing the world.
—Daniel Raim
CREDITS
Written, Directed & Edited by: Daniel Raim
Produced by: Yuki Machida, Daniel Raim
Director of Photography: Koichi Furuya
Original Music: Dave Lebolt
Executive Producers: Matthew & Natalie Bernstein, Hiromi Fujii, Charlie Tabesh, Eric Nyari
Featuring: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Wim Wenders, Luc Dardenne, Isao Shirosawa, Michiko Yamanouchi, Tsai Ming-liang, Kyoko Kagawa, Akiko Ozu, Shizuo Yamanouchi
Voices:
Yasujiro Ozu – Koi Ohori
Shiro Kido & others – Rin Takagi
Kinuyo Tanaka & Asae Ozu – Kie Nakai
Archivists: Yukiko Wachi, Kazuhiro Odashima, Hidenori Okada
With support from Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, Kamakura Museum of Literature, National Film Archive of Japan
Made in Association With: Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Shochiku, Office OZU
Poster Design: Adrian Curry
© 2025 Adama Films; Photo: Shochiku Co. Ltd.
FESTIVAL SELECTIONS
● Venice International Film Festival — World Premiere
● Busan International Film Festival — Asian Premiere
● AFI Fest — North American Premiere
● Tokyo International Film Festival — Japan Premiere
● Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival — South American Premiere
● Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival — Taiwan Premiere
● To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation — New York Premiere
● Sant Jordi Barcelona Film Festival — Spain Premiere
● Santa Barbara International Film Festival
● Yale University
● Japan Society New York
CRITICAL PRAISE
"A portrait of astonishing depth and tenderness." —Josh Siegel, Curator, MoMA
"The Ozu Diaries can be regarded as the definitive documentary about Ozu's life and work. At last, Yasujiro Ozu receives the comprehensive and poetic cinematic portrait he deserves." —Ritter Fan, Plano Crítico
"A film to be savored patiently, much like Ozu's own masterpieces." —Marco Fialho, Cinefialho
"The Ozu Diaries is a true labor of love, faithful to Godard's statement that 'editing is the resurrection of life.'" —Marcella Leonardi, Nubi Fluttuanti
PRESS & DISTRIBUTION INQUIRIES
BEHIND THE SCENES
Filming the Ozu's diaries at the Kamakura Museum of Literature with Akiko Ozu (Yasujiro Ozu’s niece)
BEHIND THE SCENES
An insightful interview with master filmmaker Wim Wenders (WINGS OF DESIRE, PERFECT DAYS), reflecting on Yasujiro Ozu's enduring legacy.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Director Daniel Raim and producer Yuki Machida in conversation with filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (CURE, TOKYO SONATA), reflecting on Yasujiro Ozu’s postwar filmography.
BEHIND THE SCENES
From left to right (top row): Hiromi Fujii (Shochiku Executive), Yuki Machida (producer), Daniel Raim (director/producer), Matt Severson (creative consultant), Koichi Furuya (cinematographer),
(bottom row) Yukiko Wachi (Head archivist from the Kawakita Memorial Film Archive), Kyoko Kagawa (actress, "Tokyo Story"), and Takuya Kawakami (sound recordist).