Refugees and the Border Regime (2020-22)
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, people across the world shared, to some degree, the experience of having their freedom restricted. At that time, I found myself thinking of those whose freedom had long been taken from them. Foreign nationals detained in Japan’s immigration facilities. Asylum seekers living under provisional release, deprived even of the freedom to move. I felt that if their realities could be rendered on film, they might reach people’s hearts—if only slightly, yet unmistakably more than before.
Never-ending Lockdown
(2020, 15 min, Docu Meme)
A Buddhist Burmese man travels to Bangladesh to learn about the realities faced by the persecuted Rohingya people.
Director / Cinematography / Editing: Toru Kubota
Reenactment of the Prayers
(2021, 12 min, Docu Meme)
"God, please stop the Olympics" In early 2020, the prayers in different languages, being offered to their respective God, echoed through the immigration detention centre in Japan. In February 2021, Docu Meme and three asylum seekers who have been temporarily released from the detention centre reenacted the scene where they have offered their prayers.
Memories of Ushiku
(2022, 7 min, Docu Meme)
Deniz, once detained and assaulted inside Japan’s immigration detention system, now lives a quiet life with his wife. In March 2021, after hearing about the death of a Sri Lankan woman in an immigration facility, Deniz’s trauma resurfaces.
Director / Cinematography / Editing: Toru Kubota
Adnan Lost in Korea
(2019, 11 min, Yahoo! Japan)
Adnan, who fled the civil war in Yemen, arrived on Jeju Island as a refugee. Awaiting Adnan and the 500 other Yemenis was a fierce backlash from the South Korean public.
Director / Cinematography / Editing: Toru Kubota