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KARITA is a coming of age story about Nico, an American in Tokyo, who tries to impress her new friends by stealing a car for a joyride. Directed by Virginia de Witt and Koji Ueda, this modern tale was produced by Japanese streetwear brands St Mxxxxxx, Zozovilla and GR8.

KARITA is showing on Sunday, Auguts 11 in the AAP I blocak of films at the 20th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival. See the HollyShorts schedule for details.

Our interview with co-director Koji Ueda follows.

F1: KARITA  explores cultural differences, American influence, and budding romance as a “fish out of water” coming-of-age tale. What is your reaction to this description? What themes were you trying to put forward in this project?

When I read the first draft of the script, there was a personal attachment to the main character because I had lived in the US since my early 20s until mid-30s; geometrically opposite but I once lived my version of Nico’s life.

I was attracted by the cityscape and days of events of New York and Los Angeles, and I thought Nico must be the same so I wanted to capture the same sceneries and dramas which evokes my nostalgic feeling.   

F2: You wear multiple hats with this film, serving as co-writer and director. with you, Koji, as cinematographer. How did you balance these different roles across your collaboration?

Ever since I initially started my career as a photographer, then transitioning to a cinematographer, I always think about creative direction first

Although it’s a natural thing for me to direct and shoot at the same time, this was my first narrative movie so it was quite a challenging to use two parts of my brain to check acting and operate a camera simultaneously. With lots of effort by wonderful team I managed to complete all the shots.

F3: The film has a high production look with multiple locations and stunning cinematography, often challenges for a short film production. How did you accomplish this vision as directors?

Virginia gave me some references for the key visual of each scenes and I stared to sketch out all the cuts along with potential locations.

Since the film is about a joyride, the car is the key factor and we wanted to have multiple locations including the sea which ended up with us traveling outside of Tokyo. We got very lucky with the record shop as a location which is actually owned by Haruka (Rumi in the film) who let us shoot there for free.

I was filming by handheld for more than half of all locations we shot because we had to be very quick to move on without permission. I don’t know if we should say this here lol.

Also, I liked the shaky camera action and the frantic cuts made by Curtis – our great editor. It made the entire film look lively and makes audiences realize the fun time passes fast.

F4: What can you say about the significance of the “joyride” concept in the film and how you directed the actors to bring out their unique reactions and personalities in this shared experience?

It’s not just stealing a car and riding around but it draws on the energy of being young and having fun, showing and being cool with your friends. Everyone likes to cut loose sometimes and these guys are not an exception. Hayato, who plays Kenji, and Mika, who plays Suki had a little acting experiences but Koki , who plays Ren, Haruka, and Mitsuhiro had none.

But I was sure that everyone had those experiences in their life, so I was trying to draw their real personalities and the result was far beyond of my expectation. The most significant thing is that they are not thinking about tomorrow, everything is right here right now. It’s a beautiful thing.

F5: KARITA is showing in the AAPI film block at HollyShorts. What did you seek to portray about the AAPI experience in this film?

I hope KARITA will amuse people who have similar experience and also make those who never have want to experience [Japanese culture] someday.

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Watch the KARITA trailer.