Nominee, Audience Choice Award
A Japanese man and his Chinese-American wife struggle with work, parenting, and caregiving in NYC. Their strained life spirals when their son is kidnapped, leading to murder. Unspoken truths and secrets surface, deepening their rift. Can they rebuild their shattered vision of a “happy family”?
Mariko was born on July 12, 1981, in Tokyo, Japan. He began making short films while at Hosei University. He produced The Far East Apartment in 2003 and Mariko's 30 Pirates in 2004, which won the Grand Prix at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. He made Yellow Kid, his first feature-length film, while a graduate student at the Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2016, he won the Golden Leopard for Best New Director at the Locarno Film Festival and the Silver Balloon at the Three Continents Festival for his film Destruction Babies. In 2019, Mariko received Nikkan Sports Film Award for Best Director for his film Miyamoto to You. His films at screened at all major film festivals in Japan, Asia and abroad such as Locarno, Hong Kong, Chicago, Shanghai and Osaka Film Festival. He is known for making arresting and subversive films centered on characters locked into cycles of extreme antisocial behavior.
EST Festival
