Olympic filmmaker needed 2 movies to cover Tokyo turmoil

By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Naomi Kawase had more material than she knew what to do with after being commissioned by the International Olympic Committee almost four years ago to make a documentary about the Tokyo Olympics. She wound up making two films looking at the Games themselves and also looking at the behind-the-scenes trouble. Each film is two hours long. Much was linked to the unprecedented one-year postponement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She says in an interview with The Associated Press “that I never wavered” once she had her two-film structure.