![MTV Documentary Films Acquires U.S. Rights for “Black Box Diaries” MTV Documentary Films Acquires U.S. Rights for “Black Box Diaries”](https://cinemadailyus.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Black-Box-Diaries.png)
Shiori Ito’s “Black Box Diaries” have been acquired by MTV Documentary Films for the U.S. market.
The film is about the investigation of the director’s own alleged sexual assault, which debuted in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and has been an audience favorite at SXSW and Hot Docs film festivals.
“Black Box Diaries” is set to be released in theaters by MTV this fall, beginning in October at New York’s Film Forum. The film’s eligibility for awards consideration will be determined before it is exhibited on Paramount+ for subscribers with the Showtime plan later this year. Last year, the division released two Oscar-nominated documentaries — Maite Alberdi’s feature-length film titled “The Eternal Memory” and Sheila Nevin’s short film titled “The ABCs of Book Banning.”
The film depicts the difficult five-year journey she endured to bring renowned TV reporter Noriyuki Yamaguchi to justice for sexually assaulting her in 2015, while she was interning at Thomson Reuters while she was 26 years old. Yamaguchi and she went out for drinks, but she ended up in his hotel room due to becoming intoxicated.
In 2017, Ito’s memoir about the alleged rape, titled ‘Black Box,’ was published and went on to win the Free Press Association. The book also won the Japan Award for Best Journalism in 2018 is currently available in 11 languages. After Yamaguchi’s charges were declined by prosecutors, Ito pursued a civil case against him, and won damages in 2019. Ito was named among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2020 for her involvement in Japan’s #MeToo movement.
Our writer Karen Benardello wrote, “Black Box Diaries” is an evocative documentary that tells a personally daunting story from the victim’s perspective. The feature excels in its strong sense of purpose of challenging the filmmaker’s high-profile abuser, despite knowing the risks.
Here’s our exclusive interview with Shiori Ito.