Black Box Diaries (15)
Directed by Shiori Ito 

 
 
JAPANESE film-maker and journalist Shiori Ito is an astounding and exceedingly brave young woman who used her journalistic skills to investigate her own sexual assault to bring her well-connected, high-profile attacker to justice, while exposing Japan’s outdated judicial and patriarchal systems. 

Written and directed by Ito herself, this documentary follows her courageous and tumultuous journey through secret investigative recordings, verite shooting and emotional video diaries. Unfolding like a thriller, it is a powerful and heart-wrenching account as Ito is both victim and investigative reporter, and the vilification and persecution she underwent after going public in May 2017 about being raped was extraordinary.  

She was denied a criminal prosecution against her alleged offender, a leading television journalist who had close ties with Japan’s then-prime minister Shinzo Abe, due to supposed lack of evidence. Instead, she pursued a civil trial and also wrote a book about her experience in order to help other women.