Sexually assaulted by an influential figure, a young journalist investigates her own case, setting into motion a movement for change.

One of this year’s most remarkable human rights documentaries, Black Box Diaries follows the courageous story of Japanese journalist and filmmaker Shiori Itō, whose allegations of rape by a high-profile figure linked to then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were dismissed by Japanese authorities in 2015.

After going public with her experiences in 2017, later filing charges against her attacker in civil court, Itō finds herself at the centre of Japanese politics. Her rape allegations are met with open cultural and media hostility. Determined to reach other women, she begins writing her tell-all memoir Black Box, and turns the camera on herself, the police, her lawyers and allies, documenting her own vulnerability and ongoing trauma.

An audacious documentary that weaves secret recordings together with first-person perspective, Black Box Diaries is a powerful testament to one woman’s refusal to stay silent, her pursuit of justice and the landmark events that helped change Japan’s sexual assault laws.