Ema Ryan Yamazaki is the director of INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART and editor of BLACK BOX DIARIES, both of which were nominated for Academy Awards in 2025. With a unique perspective as both an insider and outsider in Japan, Ema strives to tell stories that empathetically illuminate human struggle and triumph.
Ema has directed and edited three critically acclaimed features. Emmy-nominated THE MAKING OF A JAPANESE (2023) captures students and teachers over the course of a year in a Japanese elementary school. KOSHIEN: JAPAN’S FIELD OF DREAMS (2019) explores the phenomenon of high school baseball as a microcosm of Japanese society. MONKEY BUSINESS: THE ADVENTURES OF CURIOUS GEORGE’S CREATORS (2017) is a partially animated film about the couple who created the Curious George books.
Raised in Osaka by a Japanese mother and British father, Ema attended NYU’s Tisch School OF THE ARTS and began her career as an assistant editor to Sam Pollard. She has edited films for notable directors including Marc Levin and Naomi Kawase. Her latest editorial work, Poh Si Teng’s AMERICAN DOCTOR, premiered in the U.S. Competition at Sundance in 2026.
Ema is also a teacher and a founding board member of DDDD Film School, a documentary community in Tokyo founded in 2025.