Yasukawa Yuka Continues Exploration of Women’s Societal Issues in Tokyo Festival’s ‘Nighthawk’

Yasukawa Yuka is one of two Japanese directors with films in the Asian Future section for up-and-coming Asian filmmakers. Her romantic drama “The Nighthawk’s First Love,” is based on Naoki Prize-winner Shimamoto Rio’s 2013 novel about a college student with a facial birthmark that made her a target of bullying as a child and sapped her confidence as a woman. Then a book partly based her life becomes a movie – and she falls for its director, but her feelings are not reciprocated. “I was fascinated by the charm of the heroine, Aiko, who wants to affirm herself, despite her… Read Full Article