Gender, Sexuality & Identity Research Group to Host Film Screening Event (10/23)

On Thursday, October 23^rd, 2025 14:00-15:30, Tokyo College’s “Gender, Sexuality & Identity” collaborative research group will host a film screening event.

“Maelstrom” (2022, 79 minutes) will be screened, followed by a discussion with the film’s director, editor, and narrator, Mizuko Yamaoka. The event will be conducted in English, although consecutive Japanese interpretation will be available when needed.

You can register for the event here: Registration Form

 Attendance will be first come, first serve.

Date & Time : October 23^rd, 2025 14:00-15:30

Venue: Location details will be shared after you register.

Title: “Maelstrom” (2022): Film Screening and Discussion with Mizuko Yamaoka

Language: English (consecutive Japanese interpretation)

Film Abstract:

In early June 2002, a student, who had just graduated from an art school in New York and was planning to stay another year, is involved in a traffic accident on her way to the bank. When she suddenly loses her normal routine and returns to a place where time no longer exists, what keeps her attached to her true self?

Amidst the chaos (Maelstrom), the "I" involved in the accident begins to record her changed daily life, praying that she will be able to reconnect with her pre-accident self and find the place she is looking for.

Film Website: https://maelstromfilm.com

Director’s Profile: Mizuko YAMAOKA, Filmmaker/artist, BFA. Born in Tokyo, moved to the US in 1998.

Immediately after graduating from Pratt Institute (NY) in 2002, Yamaoka was involved in an accident and returned to Japan, becoming estranged from the art world. While working for a spinal cord injury support group for around five years, she began exploring ways of producing work from the perspective of people with acquired disabilities and returnees. In 2016, she independently produced her first short documentary in Barcelona. Then in 2017, she began production on "Maelstrom." She participated in the artist residency program at BankART in Yokohama in 2021, and completed her first feature-length documentary film, "Maelstrom" in 2022, which was the winner of the University of Pittsburgh Japan Documentary Film Award 2022. Her work has been screened at film festivals both in Japan and abroad, including the 23rd Nippon Connection, Japannual 2023 in Vienna, and Maebashi Media Festival Plus 2024. She was selected as the 5th place winner of the 97th Kinema Junpo Cultural Film Top Ten. She is also a 2023 ACY Artist Fellow.

Organizing Body: Gender, Sexuality & Identity Research Group, Tokyo College

Contact: shannon.welch@tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp