Director Spotlight #7:

Dir. NAKAMURA Mayu

(Alone Again in Fukushima)

Mayu earned an MFA from the Graduate Film Program at New York University. In 2006, her first fiction feature film, “The Summer of Stickleback” premiered in competition at the Busan International Film Festival and later released theatrically in Japan. In 2012, Mayu directed the documentary, “Lonely Swallows–Living as the Children of Migrant Workers”, which follows Japanese-Brazilian kids struggling to survive in Japan and Brazil. The film was awarded the Grand Prix in Documentary Features at the Brazilian Film Festival. In 2015, Mayu directed, “Alone in Fukushima," which follows a man who stays in the nuclear zone to care for animals left behind in Fukushima. Among others, the film was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival and was theatrically released in Japan. Currently, Mayu primarily works in NHK making documentary programs. Her recent credit includes the script for “Tokyo Trial” a Dutch/Canadian/Japanese co-production series drama which was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2018 for Best TV Movie/Mini-Series.