Between Us
Director, Writer, Producer
Fiction | Drama/LGBTQ+ | 17 min | Japanese with English Subtitles | 2020 | Cornsilk Productions Inc.
Festival Circuit | A queer-trans couple in rural Japan must confront their divergent notions of belonging.
Director’s Statement
What does it mean to belong? Does it mean being in the right place? Being with the right people? Being in the right body? Between Us seeks to answer these questions not through rhetoric but through an exploration of relationships and the senses.
The story reveals the strains and intimacies between a transgender man, his queer Canadian partner, and the healing lure of the local hot springs. The idea surfaced while I was living in Yamagata City from 2011-2013, in Northern rural Japan where I returned to shoot the film. During my two years there, I went from reeling, like a total outsider, to feeling like an adopted family member--particularly among queer and trans friends who were forging their own path toward belonging.
The story, while fictional, draws on my MFA thesis research and is inspired by the lived experiences of locals and immigrants in Japan with whom I have sustained close relationships. It was important to me that the film’s production model also be rooted in creative international collaboration. "Between Us" was made possible through the generosity of the film professionals, office workers, students and seniors, trans folks and allies who made up our cast and crew of 8 different nationalities.
The vocabulary to explore the fluid spaces between different cultures, genders or generations is hard enough to find, harder still to hold onto. "Between Us" invites audiences to engage with ways of being that cannot simply be placed on either side of a divide.
Cast & Crew
CHIHAYA “SHO” KADOTA | as Kei
MARIELLA KAI | as Erin
KUMIKO KATO | as Setsuko
CAILLEAH SCOTT-GRIMES | Writer, Director, Producer
MIKAYLA CARSON | Co-Producer
HANS BOBANOVITS | Director of Photography
GINA HARA | 1st Assistant Director
ANTHONY RILOCAPRO | 1st Assistant Camera
EDAN MASON | Sound Recordist & Mixer
TSUGUHIRA TAKADA | Gaffer
XIUMIN MIAO | Production Interpreter
YOSHIE “SIE” FUKUDA | Fixer
SATOSHI NACHIGAMI | Unit Photographer
JEREMY McCRACKEN | Editor
EWAN STRINGER | Colorist
DAE COURTNEY | Sound Designer
MICHELLE HWU | Post Sound Mixer
NAOKO TAKADA | Research Assistant
YUKI OTSUKA-CHUNG | Script Translator
IKUMI YOSHIDA | Script Translator
KONOKA ABE | Production Assistant
TARO KAWASAKI | Production Assistant
SUZUKA SATO | Production Assistant
MADOKA SUZUKI | Production Assistant
Awards
2022 Best Short Film Jury Prize, Roze Filmdagen Amsterdam LGBTQ+ Film Festival
2021 Lindalee Tracey Award, Presented at Hot Docs Film Festival, Toronto
2021 Best Director Jury Award, Image+Nation Queer Short Film Fest, Montreal
2021 Finalist for the Iris Prize, Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales
2021 Best in Show Audience Choice Award, Wicked Queer Boston LGBT Film Festival
2021 Festival Favourite, Cinema Diverse Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival
2021 Winner: Best Cinematography; Nominee: Best Canadian Short Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay,
UWPG Film Festival, Winnipeg
2020 Nominated for the Faculty of Graduate Studies Thesis Prize, York University, Toronto
Additional Screenings & Festivals
2023 NewFest Partner Event at JP Morgan Chase - NYC
2023 Indie FilmOnTV Brighton - Screening & Q&A
2023 Get REAL Shorts Program - Online
2023 TranScreen Amsterdam Transgender Film Festival
2023 Trans Film Festival Stockholm - Sweden
2023 Reelout Queer Film Festival - Kingston
2022 Sea Film Festival, Queer Screen Curated Shorts - Melbourne & Sydney
2022 Feast Festival Queer Shorts - Adelaide, Australia
2022 Transition International Queer & Minorities Film Festival - Vienna, Austria
2022 Perlen Queer Film Festival - Hannover, Germany
2022 PRIDE PICTURES | Queer Film Festival Karlsruhe - Germany
2022 QUEER-Streifen Regensburg - Germany
2022 Hamburg International Queer Film Festival - Germany
2022 Screening: Intersectional Feminist Society, London School of Economics - UK
2022 Queergestreift Film Festival - Konstanz, Germany
2022 FilmPride Brighton & Hove Queer Film Festival - Brighton, UK
2022 Festival Cinépride - Nantes, France (June)
2022 KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival
2022 Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival
2022 The OutMuseum, Shorts Program curated by Iván Reina Ortiz: “Queer Workers of the World, Unite,” Online
2022 Gay Film Festival Freiburg, Germany
2022 Kaleidoscope LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Little Rock, AR
2022 LGBT+ Film Festival Poland
2022 BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, UK
2022 Screenings curated by Queer Screen, Powerhouse Museum, Australia
2022 Brown University, Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women
2022 Spokane International Film Festival, Washington
2021 Inside Out LGBT Film Festival, Toronto
2021 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, LA
2021 NewFest: New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, NYC
2021 Korea Queer Film Festival, Seoul
2021 Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival, Hawaii
2021 GAZE International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland
2021 Guam International Film Festival
2021 Vancouver Queer Film Festival
2021 Taiwan Queer Film Festival, Taipei
2021 Seattle Queer Film Festival
2021 Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Australia
2021 aGLIFF/Prism Film Festival, Austin, Texas
2021 Reel Pride LGBT Film Festival, Fresno, California
2021 Queer Screen Film Festival, Sydney, Australia
2021 Kansai Queer Film Festival, Kyoto & Osaka, Japan
2021 Out South Queer Film Festival, North Carolina
2021 Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival
2021 ImageOut Rochester LGBT Film Festival, New York
2021 Japan World Film Festival, Tokyo, Japan
2021 PROUD! FilmFestival, Aarhus, Denmark
2021 Reel Q: Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Film Festival
2021 Way OUT West Film Fest, New Mexico
2021 Trans Stellar Film Festival, Michigan
2021 Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival, Indiana
2021 Rainbow Visions Film Festival, Edmonton
2021 International Shorts Competition, Queer Film Festival MEZIPATRA, Prague
2021 Twisted Arts Film Festival, Tulsa, Oklahoma