This week at the cinema, discover this censored documentary in Japan who returns to the fight of a journalist ready to do anything to break the silence and burst his truth.
The documentaries make it possible to open their eyes to unknown realities of the world around us, or discover more in depth the flaws of our society. This week, spectators can dive into the heart of the faults of the Japanese judicial system with this edifying film which was appointed to the Oscar for best documentary.
Ban of the Japanese company, journalist Shiori Ito tells of it her own fight against the media-judicial system of her country. Since 2015, she has denounced the rape of which she was the victim. She accuses a powerful man, biographer and close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She says she was drugged at a professional dinner before being raped in a hotel room in Tokyo.
The man she accuses is first charged before her arrest was canceled at the last moment at the request of a criminal brigade official, close to the Prime Minister. The case is classified without follow -up in July 2015, but Shiori Ito decides not to stop there. The documentary Black Box Diaries Traces all her fight, from the moment she mediates the case and breaks a taboo in Japanese society, in April 2017, to the trial.
Faced with the camera, the one that is considered today as one of the pioneers of the #MeToo movement in Japan records its fight to explode the truth as well as all the obstacles that it is confronted. From the misunderstanding of his relatives to insults and death threats from anonymous, but also the supports she has received, Black Box Diaries testifies against a system that protects the powerful, but also the faults of Japanese justice in matters of sexual crimes (especially through extremely restrictive laws, but also the possibility of pressure exerted).
Black Box Diaries was appointed to the Oscar for the best documentary film and thus becomes the first Japanese production to be selected in this category. Despite the critical success internationally, the feature film does not find a distributor in Japan. In particular, Shiori Ito is criticized for having used clandestine recordings to document his fight against “a powerful man”, without the agreement of the interested parties. An online petition was created for the documentary to be broadcast in Japan. In France, Black Box Diaries is to be seen in the cinema from this Wednesday, March 12.