Misato Sakurai -

Sakurai is currently in post-production for The Sleeping Boy, a 4-hour epic about a young man in a coma during the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. The film reportedly has no dialogue for the first 90 minutes and uses only archival radio broadcasts.

Early screenings at the Rotterdam Film Festival have left audiences divided. Some call it "self-indulgent torture," while others label it "the most important Japanese film of the decade." Predictably, Misato Sakurai is indifferent to both labels. misato sakurai

In a rare interview last month with The Film Stage, she summarized her philosophy: "My films are not for enjoyment. They are for remembrance. I film the things Japan wants to forget. The shame, the boredom, the loneliness. If you walk out of a Sakurai film feeling happy, I have failed." Sakurai is currently in post-production for The Sleeping

We are living in an era of hyper-curation. Social media feeds are airbrushed; reality TV is scripted. Misato Sakurai feels like an antidote to that. Some call it "self-indulgent torture," while others label

She worked primarily with mid-tier studios rather than the very top labels (S1, Moodyz). Her most recognized affiliations: