Mayumi Yoshida’s acclaimed debut feature Akashi will begin its theatrical run this month, starting with screenings in Vancouver at VIFF Centre this weekend, with more dates and cities to be announced, including Toronto later this month. Yoshida will be traveling with the film, hosting hometown Q&A’s at the Vancouver screenings, and will be at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival for a live table read for her next project, Homestaying, as part of the First Read: Fresh Voices in TV program.
Akashi is a multigenerational love story told across parallel timelines. Kana, a struggling artist in Vancouver, returns to Tokyo for her grandmother’s funeral, feeling out of place after ten years abroad. As she reflects on a secret only she and her grandmother shared—that her grandfather had another lover—she unexpectedly reconnects with an old love, Hiro. Intercut with the past, which traces her grandfather’s decades-long affair, Kana confronts hidden family truths and begins to navigate the complexities of love, sacrifice, and the choices that shape a life between desire and duty.
Shot in Vancouver and Tokyo, Akashi has won numerous awards on its festival run, including an Audience Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival and a sweep at the Whistler Film Festival, taking home five awards, including the coveted Borsos Prize for Best Canadian Feature. Akashi stars Mayumi Yoshida (The Man in the High Castle), Hana Kino (Like Father, Like Son), Ryo Tajima (Avalanche), Chieko Matsubara (Tokyo Drifter), Kunio Murai (Godzilla VS Gigan), Shun Sugata (Tokyo Vice), Bun Kimura (Rental Family), Sayaka Kunisada, Hiro Kanagawa (Shōgun) and Jess McLeod (Normal).
Born in Japan and raised across three continents, Mayumi Yoshida is a Vancouver-based director, actor, writer, and producer. She is an alumna of Women In the Director’s Chair, TIFF Writer’s Studio, TIFF Series Accelerator, and WBD Access x Canadian Academy Writers & Directors Programs. Her directorial debut short film, Akashi, won Outstanding Writer at the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival, and the music video she directed, “Different Than Before,” won a Vimeo Staff Pick, SXSW Jury Award, and was nominated for a JUNO Award. Recently, Yoshida was Associate Producer on the A24/Apple TV+ series Sunny. In 2025, she was selected for JETRO x CAPE’s Beyond Japan Filmmakers Directing Program and mentored by Hirokazu Koreeda. As an actor, she is best known for her role as the Crown Princess in The Man in the High Castle.
Akashi is produced by Tyler Hagan (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open), Nach Dudsdeemaytha (Mongrels); executive producers are Julie Waters, Evan Dyal, Mallory Schwartz, Kathleen Hepburn, and Justin Ambrosino. Hiroko Oda, of Flag Inc., was executive in charge of production in Japan. The film’s director of photography is Jaryl Lim (Yaga), costume designer is Tammy Joe (Carrie), and composer is Andrew Yong Hoon Lee (Riceboy Sleeps).
Canadian distributor KinoSmith is releasing the film in Canada, and Rabbit House will release the film in Japan. It was announced that Canoe Film boarded for International sales, excluding Canada and Japan, at the Cannes Market this year, where Japan was the country of honour.
AKASHI stills courtesy of Musubi Arts and Pender PR
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