Mayumi Yoshida’s Debut Feature AKASHI Debuts Trailer Ahead of Release

KinoSmith announced that Mayumi Yoshida’s acclaimed debut feature Akashi will begin its theatrical run this month.

Starting with screenings in Vancouver at VIFF Centre on November 13th. More dates and cities for screening are coming, including Toronto later this month. Yoshida will be traveling with the film, hosting hometown Q&A’s at the Vancouver screenings. She will be at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival for a live table read. This read is for her next project Homestaying as a part of the First Read: Fresh Voices in TV program.

A Multigenerational Love Story

Akashi is a multigenerational love story occurring across parallel timelines. Kana, a struggling artist in Vancouver, returns to Tokyo for her grandmother’s funeral. Finding herself 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:

An Audience Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival
A sweep at the Whistler Film Festival taking home five award wins 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).

Mayumi Yoshida

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. The music video she directed “Different Than Before” won a Vimeo Staff Pick, SXSW Jury Award, and gained a JUNO Award nomination. Recently, Yoshida was Associate Producer on the A24/Apple TV+ series Sunny.

In 2025, she joined the JETRO x CAPE’s Beyond Japan Filmmakers Directing Program and receiving mentoring from Hirokazu Koreeda. She appeared 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. Canoe film handles international sales, excluding Canada and Japan. The announcement came at the Cannes Market this year, where Japan was the country of honour.

Musubi Arts & Experimental Forest Films produce Akashi in association with Watermark Media. The film is made possible with the support of Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund, Creative BC, Crave, A Division Of Bell Media Inc, and Hollywood Suite.