Ema Ryan Yamazaki

Directing

Ema Ryan Yamazaki

Born 1989-01-01 · Kobe, Hyogo, Japan

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Making of a Japanese poster
7.3

Intimately following 1st and 6th graders at a public elementary school in Tokyo, we observe kids learning the traits necessary to become part of Japanese society.

The Making of a Japanese

2024

Instruments of a Beating Heart poster
6.8

First graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: performing "Ode to Joy" at the ceremony for the new incoming first graders. Ayame, who often struggles to keep up with the group, is determined to play a major part — the big drum.

Instruments of a Beating Heart

2024

Class Divide poster
5.9

A look at NYC’s gentrification and growing inequality in a microcosm, Class Divide explores two distinct worlds that share the same Chelsea intersection – 10th Avenue and 26th Street. On one side of the avenue, the Chelsea-Elliot Houses have provided low-income public housing to residents for decades. Their neighbor across the avenue since 2012 is Avenues: The World School, a costly private school. What happens when kids from both of these worlds attempt to cross the divide?

Class Divide

2016

Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams poster
6.0

Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in Koshien, Japan’s national high school baseball championship, whose alumni include US baseball stars Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. As popular as America’s World Series, the stakes are beyond high in this single-elimination tournament. For Coach Mizutani, cleaning the grounds and greeting guests are equally important as honing baseball skills, however, demonstrating discipline, sacrifice and unwavering dedication. Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki follows Mizutani and his team on their quest to win the 100th annual Koshien, and, in the process, goes beyond baseball to reveal the heart of the Japanese national character.

Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams

2019

Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators poster
7.3

We all know Curious George. But what about his creators, Hans and Margret Rey? From fleeing Nazi Germany on handmade bicycles to encounters with exotic animals in Brazil, the Reys lived lives of adventure that are reflected in the pages on one of the most treasured children’s book series of all time.

Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators

2017

Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators poster
7.3

We all know Curious George. But what about his creators, Hans and Margret Rey? From fleeing Nazi Germany on handmade bicycles to encounters with exotic animals in Brazil, the Reys lived lives of adventure that are reflected in the pages on one of the most treasured children’s book series of all time.

Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators

2017

No artwork available
NR

The sites and sounds at the 800-year-old Horenji Temple in Kyoto — electro music, English, takoyaki, a kaleidoscopic elephant — would seem to belie its long history. But in order for the family-run temple to thrive in the 21st century, it must continue to reinvent itself. Intimately following future head priest Scion (30) along with his fiancée Haruka and firstborn sister Ariya, critically-acclaimed director Ema Ryan Yamazaki captures one unexpected corner of Japanese society's struggle to balance tradition with progress.

Temple Family

2021

Wheels of Fate: The Story of the Rickshaw Man poster
NR

Wheels of Fate follows Miyajima’s quest to restore Muhomatsu no issho journeying between Tokyo, New York, and Lisbon while recounting its fateful history using interviews, archival material, and animation.

Wheels of Fate: The Story of the Rickshaw Man

2020

Monk by Blood poster
NR

One young Japanese man struggles with his destiny as the next in line to take over his family's 800-year old temple.

Monk by Blood

2013