When Japanese journalist Shiori Ito decided to speak up about her rape allegations, she knew she was standing in the face of a society that preferred silence. “I’m scared… but all I want to do is to talk about the truth”, Shiori says in the opening scene of her Oscar-nominated documentary Black Box Diaries.
Shiori became the face of Japan’s MeToo movement after she accused a prominent journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi of rape. Her acclaimed directorial debut, based on her memoir of the same name, is a retelling of her quest for justice after authorities found the evidence insufficient to pursue criminal charges.
But there is one country where it is yet to play: Japan, where it has run into huge controversy. Her former lawyers have accused her of including audio and video footage she did not have permission to use, which, they say, has violated trust and put her sources at risk. Shiori defends what she did as necessary for “public good”.
It took me four years to make the film because emotionally I was struggling. I’m scared… but all I want to do is to talk about the truth.
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