THE TEAM
YURIKO GAMO ROMER
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Yuriko Gamo Romer is an award-winning director who holds a Master’s degree from Stanford University, is a Student Academy Award winner, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Scholar, and American Association of Japanese University Women Scholar. Her previous film Mrs. Judo, about Keiko Fukuda (1913-2013), the first woman to attain the 10th degree black belt in judo, traveled to more than 25 film festivals and was awarded the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2013 International Festival of Sport Films in Moscow and broadcast on PBS nationally.
IMDb
MARC SMOLOWITZ
PRODUCER
Marc Smolowitz is a multi-award-winning director, producer, executive producer, and consulting producer who has been significantly involved in over 60 successful independent films. The combined footprint of his works has touched 250+ film festivals & markets on 5 continents, yielding substantial worldwide sales to theatrical, television, and VOD outlets, notable box office receipts, and numerous awards and nominations. His credits include films that have screened at top-tier festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Venice, Tribeca, Locarno, SXSW, Chicago, Palm Springs, SFFILM, AFI DOCS, IDFA, DOC NYC, CPH: DOX, Tokyo, Melbourne, Viennale, Jerusalem, among others. In 2009, Marc founded 13th Gen, a San Francisco-based boutique entertainment company that works with a dynamic range of independent film partners globally to oversee the financing, production, post-production, marketing, sales, and distribution efforts of a vibrant portfolio of films and filmmakers. With talent development as its focus, the company is typically involved in some 10-15 projects concurrently and has successfully advanced Marc's career-long commitment to powerful social issue filmmaking across all genres. In 2016, he received one of the prestigious Gotham Fellowships to attend the Cannes Film Festival's Producers Network, marking him as one of the USA's most influential independent film producers. Learn more about Marc and 13th Gen here: https://www.13thgenfilm.com/
LOI AMEERA ALMERON
PRODUCER
Loi Ameera Almeron is a 2025 Sundance Documentary Producers Lab fellow and Doc Fund Grantee, the 2024 Elevate Award winner from the Berkeley Film Foundation and Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, a Saul Zaentz Emerging Filmmaker Fellow with BAVC Media, and a FOCAL International nominee. With her roots in Philippine documentary filmmaking, her work focuses on investigative, historical, and personal documentaries on civil and disability rights, immigration and race, and science and society. She has produced and post-produced award-winning films for PBS, AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video, Good Docs, and various international film festivals, including two consecutive world premieres at Sundance. Loi has also edited a Student Academy Award winner and an NAACP Image Award nominee.
IMDb
GLEN S. FUKUSHIMA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Glen is a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, where he focuses on the nexus between technology, national security, trade, and U.S.–Asia relations. In Washington, D.C., he is Vice Chair of SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation) and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He previously served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan and China at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and held senior executive roles at one European and four American multinational corporations. Mr. Fukushima was elected twice as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and currently divides his time between Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., and Tokyo.
STEVEN OKAZAKI
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Steven is an Academy Award®-winning filmmaker whose documentaries explore the human consequences of dramatic historical events and social inequities. In addition to winning an Oscar® for Days of Waiting (1990), he received three other Oscar® nominations, a Primetime Emmy, a Peabody, Camerimage's "Outstanding Achievement Award," and the Grand Prize at the Banff World Media Festival. Other films for HBO and PBS include: Unfinished Business (1985), Black Tar Heroin (1999), White Light/Black Rain (2007), The Conscience of Nhem En (2008) and Heroin: Cape Cod (2015). He also directed the comedy Living on Tokyo Time (1986) and Mifune: The Last Samurai (2016), a tribute to his childhood hero. His favorite baseball players are Sandy Koufax and Rickey Henderson.
Farallon Films
KEN SCHNEIDER
EDITOR
Ken has edited over thirty feature-length documentaries about war and peace, human rights, art, American history and contemporary social issues and has been honored with Emmys, Peabodys, International Documentary Association awards, and an Oscar nomination for Regret To Inform.
IMDb
Andrew BLACK
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrew’s work has been for theatrical and broadcast distribution and has shown in many festivals worldwide. His selected films include: Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 and Sicko, Sam Green’s The Weather Underground, Jake Kornbluth’s Inequality For All and Toby McLeod’s series, Standing on Sacred Ground.
IMDb
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Director & Producer: Yuriko Gamo Romer
Producer: Marc Smolowitz
Producer: Loi Ameera Almeron
Editor: Ken Schneider, ACE
Writers: Yuriko Gamo Romer, Ken Schneider
Co-Writer: Fernanda Rossi
Executive Producers: Glen S. Fukushima, Steven Okazaki, Ken Nelson and Julie Hettiger, John Kikuchi and Debra Coggins
Archival Producer: Megumi Nishikura
Director of Photography: Andrew Black
Illustrators & Animators: Sabina Kariat, Anya Chytrowski
Graphic Designer: Drew McGaraghan
Original Score: Goh Nakamura
Featuring: Masanori "Mashi" Murakami, Warren "Cro" Cromartie, Ichiro Suzuki, Bobby Valentine
Featuring: Robert Fitts, Kerry Yo Nakagawa, Don Nomura, Tom O'Doul, Nobuhisa "Nobby" Ito, Tadao Kunishi, Marty Lurie, Sayuri Shimizu Guthrie, Bill Staples, Jr., Julia Ruth Stevens, Robert Whiting, Kyoko Yoshida
Featuring in Archival: Tetsuo Furukawa, Cappy Harada, Hideo Nomo, Lefty O'Doul, Shohei Ohtani, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Wally Yonamine, Kenso Howard Zenimura
This Film Was Made Possible With The Generous Support Of: National Endowment for the Humanities, Glen S. Fukushima, United States-Japan Foundation, The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, Ken Nelson and Julie Hettiger, John Kikuchi and Debra Coggins, Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation, California Humanities, Japan U.S. Friendship Commission
Produced In Association With: United States-Japan Foundation, Center for Independent Documentary
Cinematographers: Selene Almeron, Leo Chiang, Con Dempsey, Yuriko Gamo Romer, Yuko Inatsuki Oberjat, John Kiffmeyer, Amanda Micheli, Kathleen Quillian, Nicholas Rossi, Chris Tipton-King, Dave Wendlinger
Sound Recordists: Tyson Dai, Ray Day, Doug Dunderdale, Fiona McBain, Naohiro Nakazawa, Marshall Potter, Dave Wendlinger
Associate Producers: Jess Braff, Emi Gusukuma, Kellie and Jeff Hepper, Naohiro Nakazawa, Kathleen Quillian
Production Assistants: Selene Almeron, Braeden Ayub, Harper Brock, Sophia Chen, Garrett Freeberg, Roshni Gosalia, Paul Ikeda, Gabriel O'Byrne, Niko Romer, Jensen Teng, Ryan Vanderpool
Additional Editors: Loi Ameera Almeron, Yuriko Gamo Romer, Kevin Jones, Michaelle McGaraghan, Jennifer Steinman
Assistant Editors: Anya Chytrowski, Yuko Inatsuki Oberjat
Consulting Editors: Shirley Thompson, Bill Webber
Trailer Editor: Jeremy Troy
Post Production Supervisor: Loi Ameera Almeron
DI Producer: Kim Salyer
Online Editor: Loren Sorensen
Colorists: Ed Rudolph, David E. Franks
Music Supervisor: Terri d'Ambrosio
Musicians: Art Hirahara (Piano), Masaru Koga (Shakuhachi Flute), Goh Nakamura (Guitar and Vocals)
Additional Music: Chops, Karl Force, Mark Izu, Isaiah Sheppard-Nelson
Re-recording Mixer and Sound Design: Dave Nelson
Post Production Facility: Outpost Studio SF
Dialogue Editor: Miik Dinko
Voice Actor: Kelley Stoltz
Archival Researchers: Ken Schneider, Loi Ameera Almeron, Yuriko Gamo Romer, Michaelle McGaraghan
Translators: Madoka Hokamura, Yuko Inatsuki Oberjat, Junichi Kakutani, Kisato Nagao Evans, Masako Shimizu
Additional Grant Writers: Laurie Coyle, Arwen Curry, Nancy Kates, Rachel Kessler, Jill Shiraki, Sharon Wood
Transcription: Raina Marten Glazener
Film Transfer Services: Cinepost, Premiere Pictures International, Inc.
Website Designers: Sage Brucia, Elvis Murks
Advisors: Jill Shiraki, Susi Walsh
Scholar Consultants: Robert Fitts, Nobuhisa "Nobby" Ito, Kerry Yo Nakagawa, Daniel Okimoto, James Orr, Bill Staples Jr., Sayuri Guthrie Shimizu, Tom Shieber, John Thorn, Robert Whiting, Kyoko Yoshida
Legal Counsel: Julien Swanson, Eric Bass, Austin Swanson Law, Tasha Yorozu