Naomi Kawase named to direct 2020 Tokyo Olympic documentary

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese director Naomi Kawase has been commissioned to make the documentary film about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Kawase was introduced Tuesday by the local organizing committee. She said she hoped to focus partly on reconstruction efforts in the northern Fukushima region of Japan, which was devastated in 2011 by an earthquake and tsunami and a resulting nuclear disaster.

She also says the film is "an opportunity for me to show the world where Japan stands and what kind of changes Japan will be undergoing."

The film will be financed by the International Olympic Committee and the local organizing committee, and is a requirement under the hosting contract.

The documentary of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics by Kon Ichikawa, titled "Tokyo Olympiad," is generally regarded as one of the most important in the genre, along with Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia" from the 1936 Berlin Games.

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