My Small Land
Mein kleines Land

Lilly Kahafi Zadeh, Lina Arashi
My Small Land | Mein kleines Land by Emma Kawawada
JPN 2022, Generation
© 2022MSLPC

Lina Arashi
My Small Land | Mein kleines Land by Emma Kawawada
JPN 2022, Generation
© 2022MSLPC

Arash Kahafi Zadeh, Lina Arashi, Lilly Kahafi Zadeh, Lion Kahafi Zadeh
My Small Land | Mein kleines Land by Emma Kawawada
JPN 2022, Generation
© 2022MSLPC
Sarya has lived in Japan since she was five. She pretends to be German to her friends, which is easier than telling the truth. In reality, Sarya’s parents are Kurds who travelled from Turkey to Japan as refugees. Furthermore, she is responsible for her younger siblings while her father is at work. Despite the hardships, the future seems bright and soon, Sarya will be attending college. A tender relationship develops with her work colleague Sota, and her own feelings begin to surface. All Sarya wants is a completely normal life. However, when her father’s application for asylum is denied, she is increasingly torn apart. A truly haunting film about the balancing act of a young refugee who is searching for her own world while caught between two other ones.
With
- Lina Arashi ( Sarya)
- Daiken Okudaira (Sota)
Crew
Written and Directed by | Emma Kawawada |
Cinematography | Hidetoshi Shinomiya |
Editing | Shinichi Fushima |
Music | Roth Bart Baron |
Sound Design | Yuki Yaei |
Production Design | Hyeonsun Seo |
Costumes | Kyoko Baba |
Make-Up | Tsuguru Nasuno |
Casting | Mayumi Mori |
Assistant Director | Shoichi Morimoto |
Production Manager | Emiko Fujiwara |
Producers | Hiromi Morishige, Megumi Banse |
Executive Producers | Satoshi Kono, Eitaro Kobayashi, Hajime Ushioda, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Tom Yoda, Satoru Matsumoto |
World Sales
Gaga Corporation
Produced by
Bandai Namco Arts
AOI Pro.

Alexandra Pocquet, Yu Shibuya, Emma Kawawada, Hiromi Morishige, Frédéric Ouziel
The director (middle) with her film team.
My Small Land · Generation · Feb 12, 2022
Emma Kawawada

Born in the Ibaraki prefecture of Japan in 1991, she studied theatre and film at Waseda University in Tokyo. While still a student, she directed Circle which was runner-up in the Grand Prix at both the Waseda Film Festival and the Tokyo Student Film Festival. She joined the Bun-Buku production company in 2014 and has since been an assistant to director Hirokazu Kore-eda on The Third Murder and to Nanako Hirose on His Lost Name.
Filmography
2022 My Small Land
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022