My Small Land
Japanese, Turkish, Kurdish
How do you find your identity as a refugee and a teenager? How do you make friends without fear? Those are the topics explored in the film which tells the story of sensitive, ambitious 17-year-old Sarya, a Kurdish girl living in Japan with her father and siblings. The day her family’s refugee application is rejected, their lives start to fall apart. Without a legal status to stay in Japan, Sarya loses her freedom to work, go to college, and see her friend in Tokyo. Based on a series of interviews and thorough research, the film is Emma Kawawada’s debut.
sensitive content: refugee experience, longing for a parent
Emma Kawawada
She graduated from Waseda University (theatre and film arts). Her film Circle, which she directed as a college student, was the grand prize runner-up at the Waseda Film Festival and the Tokyo Student Film Festival. Among her other roles, she worked as an assistant to directors: Hirokazu Kore-Eda and Nanako Hirose. She directed several episodes of the TV series Kyo-no, Akinai. Her debut My Small Land received a special mention from the jury of the Amnesty International Film Award at the Berlinale 2022.
Trailer
Awards
