Devotion investigates the extremely complex and heirarchical relationships among a committed group of Japanese filmmakers who dedicated up to 30 years of their lives making films for one man-Ogawa Shinsuke.  Members of Ogawa Pro filmed the student movement of the late 60's; the fight by farmers to save their land from government confiscaton for the Narita airport at Sanrizuka; and the village life of a small farming community, Magino Village, in northern Japan.  These heartbreaking and sometimes funny stories have never been told on film before. Rare footage, stills, and diaries with interviews with Oshima Nagisa, Hara Kazuo and Robert Kramer make this historical inquiry visually exciting as well as valuable.

Devotion: A Film About Ogawa Productions

The care facilities for the elderly in a small town in Gifu prefecture, and the comparison with the welfare in Denmark, Sweden and Australia.

Getting Old with a Sense of Security

Kabuki Actor Kataoka Nizaemon

In 1982, the socialist researcher Ishidō Kiyotomo organized a round table with women activists who had participated in the rise of the labor movement, from the Taishō era (1912-1925) to the Shōwa era (1926-1989). At his request, Haneda records this meeting. Stimulated by her desire to " preserve the history of these women ", the director adds additional sequences to the recording. In the film, the discrimination and domination suffered by these activists are told in the first person.

Women’s Testimonies - Pioneering Women in the Labor Movement

Documentary on pioneer Japanese feminist Hiratsuka Raicho

Woman Was the Sun—The Life of Hiratsuka Raicho

This extraordinary film presents Japanese classical scroll painting as never before. The Yamanaka Tokiwa comprises twelve scrolls painted by Matabei Iwasa some 400 years ago. Haneda redefines the art documentary and demonstrated that a film about a masterpiece can be equally masterful.

Into the Picture Scroll: The Tale of Yamanaka Tokiwa

Mayor Iwakawa was voted into office in 1991, promising better welfare for senior citizens. As a result of his efforts to create a town with resident participation, while battling against anti-reform forces of the town council, Takanosu-machi becomes the best welfare town in Japan. In the nationwide local elections in 2003, however, Iwakawa, loses by a huge margin against the opposing candidate who promises the consolidation of local municipalities.

The Takanosu-machi Thereafter

All's Well That Ends Well

Set in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, the tragic theme of the film is the destruction of millions of lives in the 13 years before Manchukuo collapsed with Japan’s World War II surrender in August 1945, and the years of suffering it brought in its wake.

The Japanese Settlers to the Manchuria and Inner Mongolia of Mainland China

Haneda Sumiko, documentary filmmaker who was born in Dalian, Manchuria in 1926 and was there to experience the conclusion of the Pacific War. Following her previous work , she revisits Dalian and Lushun, places where she spent her formative years. Lushun has served as an important naval port in modern times, and in 2009 was finally fully opened to foreigners. Haneda joined a tour organized as part of that opening, and delves into memoires as she visits the house where she grew up and the school she attended.

Far-Away Home: Lushun and Dalian

Sumiko Haneda returns to film what will be the final bits of Akiko Kanda's life, documenting Kanda's will to dance as she struggles with terminal cancer.