While sifting through the movies submitted for this year's Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), competition programming director Yoshihiko Yatabe says he noticed a recurring theme.
"I was struck by the number of films involving immigrants and refugees," he says. "It's become such a big issue, especially in Europe, and that was reflected in the movies I was seeing."
It's also an issue that has had little discernible impact on Japan so far — which is where the power of cinema comes in handy.
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