Initiated in 2018, Yamagata Documentary Dojo (https://ddcenter.org/dojo) is a residency and workshop programme for Asian filmmakers, held in the mountainous region of Yamagata, Japan. In 2026, Yamagata Documentary Dojo will come to Hanoi, Vietnam, with a compact edition entitled HANOI DOCUMENTARY DOJO 2026.

Co-organised by the Documentary Dream Center (DD Center), Hanoi Grapevine, and White Light Cinéhub, with professional guidance from mentors from Japan and Varan Vietnam, the programme offers an opportunity for Vietnamese filmmakers who are currently developing documentary projects.

During the programme, participants will present their works-in-progress and engage in exchanges with mentors and fellow filmmakers. Through these conversations and discussions, participants will have the opportunity to revisit their creative practices from new perspectives.

In addition to the workshop, the programme will feature masterclasses, screenings of Japanese and Vietnamese documentaries, as well as talks and discussions surrounding the selected films and filmmaking practices.

Through this open call, five Vietnamese filmmakers will be selected to participate in the Documentary Dojo workshop. Directors who are currently collaborating with a producer or editor may also apply as a team.

Documentary Dojo is not a technical filmmaking course. Rather, it is a space for reflection, dialogue, and the development of creative documentary practice—a place where filmmakers can experiment with and further develop their ideas in a safe environment, meet new colleagues, and contribute to building a long-term community of practice.

Through exchanges with documentary filmmakers and industry professionals, the Dojo seeks to broaden perspectives and encourage diverse approaches to cinema, while collectively exploring ways of making stronger and more meaningful films.

DATES
Documentary Dojo Workshop:14–16 October 2026
Documentary Film Screening Programme: 17–18 October and 24–25 October 2026

VENUE
White Light Cinéhub, Hanoi

PROGRAMME MENTORS:

FUJIOKA ASAKO

Fujioka Asako has been involved with the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival since 1993, serving in various capacities including Programme Coordinator and Director of the Tokyo Office. She currently serves as Vice Chairperson of the Festival’s Board. As the head of the Documentary Dream Center, she began initiating film workshops in 2009. In 2018, this work led to the successful launch of Yamagata Documentary Dojo, a residency, learning, and filmmaking programme for Asian filmmakers.

Throughout her career, Fujioka has played an important role in connecting Japanese cinema with international audiences, while contributing to the development of documentary filmmaking through support for filmmakers, international exchanges, and programmes that bring documentary cinema closer to the public. She has also produced documentaries including Odoriko (2020) and Nude at Heart (2021), directed by Okutani Yoichiro, among others.

Fujioka is also a member of the steering committee of J-Docs Hub, a new initiative dedicated to promoting and developing Japanese documentary filmmaking on a global scale.

TRẦN PHƯƠNG THẢO

Born in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 1977, Trần Phương Thảo moved to France in 2000 to pursue her dream of becoming a documentary filmmaker. After graduating in Political Science in Paris, she studied documentary filmmaking techniques and writing at the University of Poitiers. Upon returning to Vietnam, she joined a Varan Vietnam workshop, where she made the documentary Workers Dream (Giấc mơ là công nhân). The film was screened at numerous international film festivals and received the P. Perrault Award at Cinéma du Réel in 2007.

Since 2011, she has co-directed several documentaries with Swann Dubus, including With or Without Me, which received the White Goose Award at DMZ Docs 2012, and Finding Phong, winner of the Grand Prix Nanook at the Jean Rouch International Film Festival in Paris in 2016.

She currently runs the Varan Vietnam production company and serves as a lead instructor in Varan Vietnam’s documentary filmmaking workshops.

OKUMA KATSUYA

Born in 1984 in Okinawa Prefecture, OKUMA Katsuya is a filmmaker. After earning a Master of Arts degree from the Graduate School of the University of the Ryukyus, he moved to Tokyo, where he has since lived and worked.

His medium-length film Gift (2011), set in Okinawa, was selected for numerous film festivals in Japan and abroad, including Visions du Réel International Documentary Film Festival in Switzerland and the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.

His film Ladakh: Stories Untold (2015), shot in the Ladakh region of northern India, received the Special Jury Prize in the New Asian Currents section at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.

Also in 2015, Okuma received the Award for Best Emerging Talent from the Association of All Japan TV Program Production Companies (ATP Award) for the WOWOW television documentary The Lost Film “Hiroshima” Revived: The Legacy and Passion of Filmmakers.

His first feature-length film, Close to the Bone (2024), earned him the 33rd Japanese Society of Cinematographers Award. In 2026, he also published a book of the same title.

SWANN DUBUS

After earning a Master of Arts degree, Swann Dubus, born in Paris, France, in 1977, completed his doctoral dissertation on “the representation of intimacy in cinema” at Université Paris III in 2006.

Alongside his academic work, he has worked as a cinematographer, editor, and director on numerous documentary films across Europe, Africa, and Asia.

He moved to Hanoi in 2007 and has since collaborated closely with Trần Phương Thảo. Through their films, the two filmmakers have explored major issues within Vietnamese society from deeply personal perspectives.

At the same time, they have supported the production of works by a new generation of talented Vietnamese documentary filmmakers, including Hà Lệ Diễm’s debut feature, Children of the Mist.

ODA KAORI

Born in Osaka in 1987, ODA Kaori is a filmmaker and artist whose work explores audiovisual and cinematic forms as a means of reflecting on collective memory, tracing invisible histories inscribed within landscapes and human lives.

She studied at film.factory, the film school founded by renowned Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr.

Her first feature film, ARAGANE (2015), received a Special Mention at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. Her subsequent works, including Cenote (2020) and GAMA (2023), continued to receive widespread critical recognition internationally.

ODA Kaori was also the inaugural recipient of the Nagisa Oshima Prize in 2020 and received the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for Film in 2021.

In 2024, her film Underground, shot on 16mm film and exploring underground spaces across Japan, was selected for the Forum section of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Alongside filmmaking, Oda has expanded her artistic practice into painting and moving-image installation.

Her recent projects include the solo exhibition “Oda Kaori: Reflecting Light—Film and Painting” at Higashine Manabia Terrace in 2020; participation in the exhibition “Impact of Mexico” at the Ichihara Lakeside Museum in 2021; and the collaborative art project “Museum Composting Project” with the Aomori Museum of Art from 2021 to 2023.

PHẠM THỊ HẢO

Phạm Thị Hảo is a filmmaker and film editor whose work has been closely connected to independent cinema and documentary filmmaking in Vietnam.

She graduated in Film Directing from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Theatre and Cinema and has participated in filmmaking workshops at Ateliers Varan in Vietnam and La Fémis in France.

She has directed several personal and experimental short films, some of which were screened in France at Doc Lussas in 2019 and Cinéma du Réel in 2023.

As an editor, she has collaborated with many emerging Vietnamese directors on films that have gained significant international recognition, including:

Grandma’s Mattress – Ogawa Shinsuke Award, Yamagata IFF 2013;
The Last Journey of Madam Phung – Cinéma du Réel 2014;
The Last Words of My Father – DMZ Docs 2016;
Another City – Berlinale Shorts 2016;
Father and Son – Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2018;
Drowsy City – Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019;
Blessed Land – Berlinale Shorts 2019 / Best Film at VIS Vienna Shorts;
The Glorious Pain – VTV Special 2020;
and At The Triangle Intersection – Yamagata IFF 2025.

She is currently a member of Varan Vietnam, an organisation that has supported and fostered independent documentary filmmaking in Vietnam since 2011.