Kako Annika Esashi
what I do
I am interested in story. I dive into the different facets of my work with a central interest in using differnet forms, such as film, language, and community development to hear and transform different stories.
Film
I am a writer-director based in Tokyo, Japan. I have written, directed, and editted two short films, and am currently working on a documentary film. I have also worked as a production assistant, set designer, assitant writer, and international film submission translator for five feature films.
Translation
I bridge the gap in communication via live and written translation. I have translated from Japanese-English in diplomatic settings, for local magazines, and national competitions. I am currently getting trained in Japanese to Enlish subtitle translation for film at the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA).
English Teaching
I have over five years of experience teaching English as a foreign language in Philadelphia, Comoros (Africa), and Japan. I taught pre-professionals at a trade school in Fukui, Japan and private lessons to adults.
Community Development
After completing an M.S.Ed in International Educational Development at the University of Pennsylvania and internship with UNESCO IICBA, I started working in Tsuruga, Japan as a community development worker. I organize and run community revitalization projects.
Featured now
Upcoming Film Festival Screenings
"END of DINOSAURS"(2023)
Winner of Special Jury Prize at Pia International Film Festival
Screened at:
Tokyo International Film Festival (Oct 31, 2024)
PIA Film Festival (Sept 7-21, 2024)
Hokkaido International Film Festival (August 25, 2024)
Fukui Ekimae Short Film Festival (Nov 11, 2023)
Streamed on U-NEXT and Dokuso Streaming services fall 2024.
Will stream on Japan Airlines Flights from Spring 2025.
Previously In Theatres
A story in the candid moments of actors
Having recently quit her part-time job, Shiho fills her emptiness with hookups. Rika despises being called "beautiful" by everyone she comes by. Hiroki works at a bar to make ends meet. All three of them are actors. But, they are also individual people. Their ideals and realities, as well as their past and futures come to clashing down in this story, as they try to live as actors through the drudgery of daily life.
"Todonotsumari" (After All is Said and Done)
Screening in theatres around Japan from Sept. 22, 2022
In Production
A story strung together by the sounds only found in specific places
A dialect is a sound. It is a sound rooted in the land. Following the seasons from spring to winter in rural Japan, the narrative documentary style etches the every moment of lives of a young woman trying to retain history through traditional music, high school students in their fight to win the local theatre competition, generational fishermen in their ventures to the sea, and a lone man running away from his past in the wintery mountains, only to find the passion and warmth of locals towards the local festival dance.
In theatres from 2024
...as updated on the Blog
Follow my note for details of projects in production