Daniel Raim

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    • Home
    • FILMS
      • THE OZU DIARIES
      • FIDDLER'S JOURNEY
      • IMAGE MAKERS
      • HAROLD AND LILLIAN
      • SOMETHING'S GONNA LIVE
      • THE MAN ON LINCOLN'S NOSE
    • CRITERION DOCS
      • MASTERCLASS: K. REICHARDT
      • MARVEL MON AMOUR
      • WALL-E DOCS
      • IN SEARCH OF OZU
      • OZU & NODA
      • INVENTING 'ANDREI RUBLEV'
      • FLYING BIRDS
      • CASSAVETES ON ACTING
      • WRITING WITH THE CAMERA
      • FRANÇOISE TRUFFAUT DOC
      • TIME TRAVELERS
      • HITCHCOCK & HOPPER
      • HARWOOD ON CASSAVETES 01
      • HARWOOD ON CASSAVETES 02
      • CASTING A SHADOW
      • DESIGNING HEDWIG
      • FIGURES IN SPACE
      • AKI & PETER
      • VILMOS ON 'MCCABE'
      • FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI
    • ABOUT
    • CONTACT

Daniel Raim

Daniel RaimDaniel RaimDaniel Raim
  • Home
  • FILMS
    • THE OZU DIARIES
    • FIDDLER'S JOURNEY
    • IMAGE MAKERS
    • HAROLD AND LILLIAN
    • SOMETHING'S GONNA LIVE
    • THE MAN ON LINCOLN'S NOSE
  • CRITERION DOCS
    • MASTERCLASS: K. REICHARDT
    • MARVEL MON AMOUR
    • WALL-E DOCS
    • IN SEARCH OF OZU
    • OZU & NODA
    • INVENTING 'ANDREI RUBLEV'
    • FLYING BIRDS
    • CASSAVETES ON ACTING
    • WRITING WITH THE CAMERA
    • FRANÇOISE TRUFFAUT DOC
    • TIME TRAVELERS
    • HITCHCOCK & HOPPER
    • HARWOOD ON CASSAVETES 01
    • HARWOOD ON CASSAVETES 02
    • CASTING A SHADOW
    • DESIGNING HEDWIG
    • FIGURES IN SPACE
    • AKI & PETER
    • VILMOS ON 'MCCABE'
    • FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT

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

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).

ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

About THE FILM

For cinephiles and newcomers alike, “The Ozu Diaries” offers an intimate window into the world of Yasujiro Ozu, the Japanese master whose family dramas have moved audiences for generations. Through a rich collection of rare materials from the Ozu family and Shochiku Studio Archive — including personal diaries, letters, drawings, and photographs — Academy Award-nominee Daniel Raim traces Ozu's journey from a rebellious young cinephile in Tokyo's rapidly modernizing 1920s to the cinematic poet behind masterworks like “Tokyo Story” and “An Autumn Afternoon.”


Drawing from his diary entries and rare behind-the-scenes photographs, the film chronicles his years at Shochiku Studios during the silent era, where he moved from playful comedies to nuanced explorations of shōshimin, middle-class family life. By 1931, as Japan's film industry rushed to embrace sound, Ozu stood virtually alone in his resistance. While critics accused him of artistic stagnation and the studio demanded progress, he remained resolute. "I feel like standing firm and capturing the final fade-out of silent cinema," he writes, bound by a promise to his cinematographer who was developing his own sound system. "To keep my word might mean giving up directing completely. I've made my decision. So be it!" Through surviving prints of films like "I Was Born, But..." and "A Story of Floating Weeds," alongside his own notes and sketches, we witness how this principled stand shaped his distinctive visual style — one that would define his artistic vision for decades to come.


Ozu's artistic journey is interrupted when the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II break out. During his service in China, Ozu carries a Leica camera, documenting both the horror and humanity he encounters. The loss of his close friend and fellow director Sadao Yamanaka to the war profoundly shapes his artistic vision, leading to powerful post-war works that speak to both personal and national recovery.


The documentary reveals how Ozu's return to filmmaking after the war produces some of cinema's most moving explorations of family life and generational change. Through his enduring collaboration with screenwriter Kogo Noda, and working with a devoted ensemble of actors including Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, and Kinuyo Tanaka, Ozu develops an approach to filmmaking that reveals the depths within life's ordinary moments.


Featuring reflections from Ozu's closest friends and collaborators, including actress Kyoko Kagawa (”Tokyo Story”), as well as contemporary filmmakers Wim Wenders, Luc Dardenne, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Tsai Ming-liang, “The Ozu Diaries” illuminates how this master filmmaker distilled the quiet poetry of everyday life — capturing moments of humor, heartbreak, and beauty — while navigating the shifting tensions between tradition and modernity that shaped Japan and his art.


For more information, 

contact Producer Yuki Machida

SUPPORT THE PROJECT

We are fortunate to have The Film Collaborative, a 501 (c)(3) organization as the Fiscal Sponsor for THE OZU DIAIRIES Documentary Project.  If you’d like to make a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION to help us finish film, please click the "DONATE" button below.  

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