Toru Kubota (b.1996)  approaches filmmaking as a participatory practice, seeking to open spaces of freedom through collaboration with the subjects.

In 2024, he founded Docu Athan Square, a community hub along the Thai–Myanmar border that provides free camera access and media training, supporting more than 400 creators in exile.

His latest film Resisters in Borderland (NHK BS, 2024) won the All Japan Television Program Award for Best New Director. He is currently directing the feature-length documentary My Camera, My Gun with Moonroad Media (Portugal). The project received the top prize at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF). He also serves as a jury member of the United for Peace Film Festival.

〈Background〉
While studying Political Science at Keio University, he began documenting conditions in Rohingya camps in western Myanmar. This experience led him to create films for and with people whose freedoms have been deprived of. He later has worked with BBC, NHK World, and Al Jazeera English and co-directed Tokyo Ritornello (NHK BS, 2020), portraying lives on the margins of Tokyo during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July 2022, Kubota was detained while filming under Myanmar’s military regime and sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released after 111 days amid international pressure. After his release, he founded Docu Athan, a project supporting Myanmar creators working along the Thai–Myanmar border.