Agency for Cultural Affairs Documentary Film Awards
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, honors outstanding Japanese documentaries with awards each year. In collaboration with YIDFF for the first time, a program of awarded documentaries of fiscal years 2020 and 2021 will be presented online.
Documentary Film Awards 2020: Nov. 7 (Sun)
Planet of the Crabs
(Kani no wakusei)- JAPAN / 2019 / 68 min
Director: Murakami Hiroyasu
Through the eyes of Yoshida Tadayoshi, who continues his own research on crabs in the Tama River estuary, this film looks at the amazing lives of crabs living in a corner of the city.
Songs of Entoko—The Power of Feebleness
(Entoko no uta netakiri kajin Endo Shigeru)- JAPAN / 2019 / 96 min
Director: Ise Shinichi
Endo Shigeru, a bedridden poet, spends days at “Entoko” with young caregivers. This film is a record of their interaction over twenty five years and depicts how they support each other.
Documentary Film Awards 2021: Nov. 14 (Sun)
Silence on that Day
(Kikoe nakatta ano hi)- JAPAN / 2021 / 116 min
Director: Imamura Ayako
The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, the 2018 floods in western Japan, the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a ten-year record of deaf people’s lives as they dealt with the difficulties brought about by natural disasters, filmed by the director who is also deaf.
Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions
(Niju no machi / Kotaichi no uta o amu)- JAPAN / 2019 / 79 min
Directors: Komori Haruka + Seo Natsumi
Four young travelers head to Rikuzentakata to listen to the voices of the local people, to repeatedly dialogue with each other, and to recite the story of the Double Layered Town. Through these cycles, the travelers find their own speaking voice.
Singing in the Dark: Erasing the Disabled of Okinawa
(Yoake mae no uta: Kesareta okinawa no shogaisha)- JAPAN / 2020 / 97 min
Director: Hara Yoshikazu
Incarcerating the mentally ill in sheds and other private enclosures was permitted under Japanese law and continued in Okinawa until 1972. The film leads us to hear the unheard song of victims of this cruel system of social isolation.
For more information 
YIDFF ONLINE!: Agency for Cultural Affairs Documentary Film Awards (Online Film Festival Site)