The documentary Maelstrom has been named winner of the 2022 Japan Documentary Film Award, given biannually by the University of Pittsburgh's Japan Council and the SCREENSHOT: Asia film festival.
The Japan Council of the University of Pittsburgh and SCREENSHOT: ASIA are pleased thrilled to announce that Mizuko Yamaoka's Maelstrom is the 2022 winner of the JDFA! Maelstrom is Yamaoka’s story of “loss and rebirth” due to a drastic life change from a car accident that damaged her cervical vertebrae. A profoundly humanist tale of tragedy and rebirth, Yamaoka's intimate documentary is both a telling of her own losses and a portrait of human experience.Maelstrom will be screened to the public on September 28 as part of this year's SCREENSHOT: Asia film festival which will play around the city and the University of Pittsburgh.
Previous winners of the award are An Ant Strikes Back (アリ地獄天国) in 2020 and Sennan Asbestos Disaster (ニッポン国VS泉南石綿村) in 2018.
