Kaori Flores Yonekura
Filmmaker | Explorer of Identities | Cultural Manager
IMBD

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Artistic Statement and Professional Profile
 

My filmmaking practice is an intersection. As a Venezuelan filmmaker of Japanese heritage, I inhabit the liminal space between archived memory and contemporary social mutation. My work dissects the fragility of displacement, transforming testimony—both visual and oral—into an architecture of resilience. I don't seek to document history; I seek to hack the archive to force an intercultural and transgenerational dialogue.

 

In each project, I seek to reconstruct identity as a living organism. My cinema is a tool for exploration: a crossroads between ancestral heritage and the disruption of the present. As a manager and producer, I translate this artistic vision into distribution strategies that challenge conventional circuits. Each film is, simultaneously, an aesthetic object and a cartography of global resilience. Through Nuevo Objetivo Film, I channel this vision into strategic distribution, ensuring that each work reaches its global audience through innovative management models.

 

Recent Awards and Distinctions

 

• Román Chalbaud Order (3rd Class): For a distinguished career in filmmaking, awarded by the Libertador Municipality, Mérida State, Venezuela.

• Candidate for the Commendation of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan: For building cultural bridges between Japan and peoples around the world.

• Institutional & Academic Reach: My films have been screened by prestigious global institutions, including UNESCO, the IOM/UN, Japan House London, and the Japanese American National Museum. Furthermore, my work serves as a recurring academic reference, exhibited and studied across major universities worldwide to foster critical dialogue on migration, memory, and cultural identity.

• Best Director Nominee: Chacao Municipal Film Awards, Venezuela.

• Film Director nominee and candidate at 4 Iberoamerican Academies: Goya (Spain), Ariel (Mexico), Sur (Argentina) and Grande Otelo (Brazil).

• Shortlisted awards 2 categories in Platino Awards.

• Festivals Winner & Official Selection:

  • The Extraordinary Journey of the Dragon.  Awards and Official Selections: Candidate for Best Ibero-American Film at the Goya Awards, Ariel Awards, Sur Awards, Grande Otelo Awards, and Platino Awards (Best Ibero-American Film and Cinema, Education, and Values Award), as well as the Forqué Awards (Best Latin American Film and Cinema, Education, and Values Award) in 2026. Winner of the Honorable Mention for International Feature at Doc.Coimbra (2026), Distinction Award at the Noida International Film Festival (2026), Jury Prize at the Caracas Film Critics Festival (2025), and Best Documentary at the Chacao Municipal Film Awards (2026), where it also received nominations for Best Director and Best Editing. Official Selection at the Al Este International Film Festival (2026), 38th Rencontres de Toulouse Latin American Film Festival (2026), 28th Punta del Este Film Festival (2026), and DOCUMENTA (2025).

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• Labels (Short Documentary, 2025). Official Selections: Barquisimeto Film Festival (2025), International Red Cross and Health Film Festival (2025), and HECare Film Festival (2025).

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• Nikkei (Feature Documentary, 2015). Official Selections and Screenings: IOM/UN International Migration Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival, Central American International Film Festival (Guatemala), International Human Rights and Film Festival (Venezuela), Spirituality in Venezuelan Cinema Festival, Cinesul (Brazil), Cine Las Américas International Film Festival (USA), Documenta (Venezuela), Caracas Doc (Venezuela), Barquisimeto Film Festival (Venezuela), Elco Film Festival (Venezuela), AtlantiDoc (Uruguay), III Ibero-American Cooperation Week (SEGIB), Lima International Film Festival, María Lionza Women's International Film Festival (Venezuela), Ibero-American Film Showcase in Santiago de Chile, Documentary Film Showcase of Mérida (Venezuela), Venezuelan Film Festival of New York (USA), Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (Canada), Cinemaissi (Finland), Lima International Book Fair (Peru), Ibero-American Documentary Memory Festival (Mexico), Fenaco (Peru), and the Philadelphia Latin American Film Festival (USA).

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Academic & Artist Residencies

- 1999: Specialist in Film Production. International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV), Cuba.
- 1996: Associate Degree (TSU) in Advertising. Antonio José de Sucre University Institute of Technology, Venezuela.
- 2024/2025 Mifa Campus Distribution of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2024. Animation Film Distribution Workshop, Otros Ojos Program for the Andean countries (France/Colombia).

- 2022 Program for the cultural management of events of the Japanese community in Latin America JICA (Yokohama, Japan).

- 2020 Iberoamerican Film Distribution Clinic. Cinemania - Ibermedia Program. Mexico.
- 2020 Diploma in Propaganda of the American Occupation 2020. University of Tokyo. Japan.

- 2013 Iberoamerican Film Development  Projects Atelier. Ibermedia Program. Costa Rica.

- 2005 Iberoamerican Film Production Course. Carolina Foundation. Spain