Ema Ryan Yamazaki is an Academy Award and Emmy nominated filmmaker. Raised in Osaka by a Japanese mother and British father, Ema attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. With a unique perspective as an insider and outsider in Japan, Ema strives to tell stories that empathetically show human struggle and triumph.
Ema's latest feature film The Making Of A Japanese follows one year in a Japanese public school, observing 1st and 6th grade students learning the traits necessary to become part of Japanese society. The film premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2023, and has received numerous awards including the Audience Award at the largest festivals for Japanese film in both Europe and the USA, such as NIPPON CONNECTION in Germany and JAPAN CUTS in New York. In 2026, the film was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award. The film opened in 13 theaters in Japan and then expanded to over 100 as it became a box office hit, creating a wide conversation around the Japanese education system.
Instruments Of A Beating Heart, born out of the feature, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film, making Ema the first Japanese filmmaker with a film about Japan to be nominated in the category.
Her previous film Koshien: Japan’s Field Of Dreams explores the phenomenon of high school baseball in Japan. In co-production with NHK, the film is an intimate and dramatic journey following coaches and players from two high schools - one being Shohei Ohtani's alma mater - during the historic 100th summer tournament. In 2020, the film was chosen for a New York Times recommended film, aired in primetime on ESPN and was released theatrically in Japan.
Ema’s debut feature documentary Money Business: The Adventures Of Curious George’s Creators uses animation, archival materials and interviews to tell the unknown war story of the Curious George book authors. In Summer 2026.6 the Japanese dubbed version of the film is set to have a theatrical release in Japan.
She has also served as Editor on notable films such as Marc Levin’s Class Divide (Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC in 2015), Naomi Kawase’s official Olympic film for Tokyo 2020 (Cannes 2022), Shiori Ito’s Black Box Diaries (Oscar-nominated in 2025), and the highly discussed Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor (Premiered at Sundance 2026).
Ema is also a teacher and founding board member of DDDD film school, a documentary community in Tokyo that she started with her colleagues in 2025. In 2026, Ema wrote her debut book, published under Shinchosha Publishing. She also became the first Japanese person to be awarded the prestigious Chicken & Egg Award, recognizing women and gender-expansive filmmakers who are poised to reach new heights in their creative and impact trajectories across the world.
Sundance Advisor //