Teodora Ana Mihai and Sode Yukiko discussed the challenges of combining filmmaking and motherhood at a Tokyo International Film Festival talk focused on raising children while working in film. The session, held at the festival’s TIFF Lounge, included childcare for attendees and was moderated by Kondo Kanako from the festival’s programming team.
Mihai, whose “Heysel 85” is in competition, appeared alongside Sode, whose “All the Lovers in the Night” is screening in the Gala Selection after debuting at Cannes. Both directors said they had previously kept impending or recent motherhood private from professional colleagues because they feared it would affect their careers.
Sode said she hid the birth of her second child, including from trusted producers, believing that work offers would stop if people knew she had a newborn. She said Japan’s film industry has changed somewhat in recent years, noting that she now hears more often about younger female directors and crew members having children.
Mihai said she was 37 when her daughter was born and had decided that she would not choose between motherhood and filmmaking. However, she delayed starting a family because of social expectations and told few people in the industry once she became pregnant. At six months, she was still able to conceal the pregnancy beneath her clothes.
“I was really conflicted with myself,” Mihai said, explaining that she felt as though she was hiding something natural and beautiful. She added that some of the pressure came from her own upbringing and mentality.
Mihai said she wanted her daughter to grow up seeing that motherhood and a professional career could coexist. She described the effort required to establish herself in comparison with male colleagues, saying she had needed to prove herself “three times more” and had devoted herself almost entirely to working and raising her child.
Her mother traveled with her to productions and cared for the children, allowing Mihai to concentrate on directing. That support ended after her mother died in a tragic car accident. Mihai’s daughter, now nearly nine, sometimes visits selected film sets and has taken on an informal assistant role while meeting cast and crew members.
Sode lives in Kanazawa with her husband, who frequently travels to Tokyo for work. When she directs, she spends about six months at a time in the capital, away from her children. She said the family left Tokyo after she was unable to secure daycare for her first child, a problem that brought her career to a complete halt.
Once daycare became available, Sode said returning fully to filmmaking felt like being released from prison. Her children have not visited her sets, which she described as demanding environments with long hours, compressed schedules and limited budgets. She said children would not necessarily be rejected outright, but their presence could create safety, staffing and scheduling difficulties.
Sode pointed to productions led by Nishikawa Miwa and Kore-eda Hirokazu as examples of sets that have organized family days, allowing partners and children of crew members to visit. Mihai said that European productions face similar pressures. She filmed “Heysel 85,” which includes large crowd scenes, in 25 days and relied on an early-developed approach and long takes to manage the demanding schedule.
Mihai’s first feature, “La Civil,” took seven years to complete. She had repeatedly postponed motherhood until the film was finished, but pandemic-related delays meant she became a mother during the project. She said she might not have taken certain risks on the film if she had already known that others would depend on her in the same way.
The directors also praised the Tokyo festival for providing nanny support during promotional activities. Mihai said such services allowed her to attend work and then return to her role as a mother. Kondo said she tries to ensure that the projects she oversees are at least child-friendly and include childcare whenever possible.
Sode said the lack of childcare can be enough for guests with young children to decline festival invitations, while Kondo said she was aware of people who had skipped festivals for that reason. Mihai added that she had sometimes felt judged more harshly by women with older views about motherhood and work, while describing men as important mentors.
The conversation also touched on film financing and exhibition. Mihai said arthouse cinemas in Europe are struggling and that many films depend on state funding. Sode warned that if market pressures remove films shown in smaller cinemas, the quality and diversity of films reaching larger screens could eventually decline.
Kondo ended the session by encouraging audiences to speak out when ticket prices are too high, arguing that change requires people to complain and that festivals have a role in starting that discussion.
Sources: Variety.