June Bride: Redemption of a Yakuza Dir. Derek Shimoda, Japan/USA, 80min, 2015, color, documentary. Japan Premiere!
June Bride trailer subbed from UPAF on Vimeo.
It took a missing finger to find God. JUNE BRIDE: REDEMPTION OF A YAKUZA is a feature-length documentary about Tatsuya Shindo, a former mobster turned preacher, who seeks forgiveness for a life’s worth of disappointment and crime in his makeshift church – June Bride – at one time a smoke-filled bar. Hanging on Shindo’s every word is his loyal congregation, an eclectic mix of tattooed ex-convicts and wayward souls who want to start over. Through his journey from the criminal underworld to a mission from God, Shindo declares, “Loyalty to my yakuza boss is the same as my loyalty to God.” But will his faith cost him more than just his finger? World premiere at LA Asian Pacific FF in April 2015.
Filmmaker Bio
A Los Angeles native, Derek Shimoda produced the feature film In My Life as well as the acclaimed documentary Secret Asian Man, an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival. His directorial debut, Autonomous Soul, was winner of a Visionary Award at the Pan African Film Festival. Over the past several years, Derek has worked on non-fiction series for several cable networks including The History Channel, The Travel Channel, and A&E. His debut feature-length documentary The Killing of a Chinese Cookie won a Best Documentary award at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas.
Synopsis from http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/june_bride_redemption_of_a_yakuza_2015#sthash.3uoDVt09.dpuf
Few would know that Tatsuya Shindo was once skating on thin ice with the direction of his life. The well-spoken, congenial, and charismatic protagonist of JUNE BRIDE: REDEMPTION OF A YAKUZA stands tall, with bright eyes that reflect that of a positive-spirited man rather than a convict running in Japan’s dangerous criminal circles. But the stature Shindo holds now stands in stark contrast to his younger, troubled self. As a teenager, he got high on crystal meth. After wrecking one of his gang’s vehicles while intoxicated, he cut the tip off of his left pinkie for atonement. Shindo also ran credit card fraud rackets and gained the wrong kind of respect as a full-fledged gang boss. Having been arrested seven times and subsequently asked by his gang to leave, he nearly teetered off the deep end. Crediting a chance encounter with an uplifting passage in the Bible, Shindo miraculously experienced a change of heart and altered his course: he enrolled in theological school, started preaching, and began revamping his mother’s bar June Bride into a makeshift communal haven for societal dropouts.
Director Derek Shimoda artfully crafts a picture of Shindo’s spirit through the latter’s storytelling. Nuances in his character are captured through the imagery and dialogue present in the footage, with each interview shedding light on his past and present; there is no guessing at his person. In fact, honesty is never second- guessed in each character’s demeanor; every story is told with a comfortable sense of trust and balanced fervor, as the storyteller helps the audience understand the various struggles and how Shindo and his following of ex-criminals ultimately overcome them. Scenes of Shindo at June Bride preaching and working with his constituency contribute to demonstrating his element. The bar is a simple place, small and unassuming, but nonetheless echoes his humble beginnings and is evocative of his burgeoning self-reinvention. The unpretentious setting – along with the generous and spirited accounts of Shindo and those of other redeemed yakuzas – hit us right in the heart with what it means to start all over again. JUNE BRIDE captivates in its authentic account of redemption.
— Dara Kim
Cast & Crew
Director: Miho Hatori, Derek Shimoda
Featuring: Tatsuya Shindo