Satoko Okudera, the Screenwriter Behind Japan’s 2026 Oscar Entry, Gives Rare Interview on How Her Country’s Industry Is Shifting for Women

At the close of Shinji Somai’s seminal childhood portrait “Moving” (1993), its young protagonist takes a detour on her way home from school, running lightfooted along the pavement — and the film’s scrolling credits — stopping just short of a hop, skip, and jump. A passerby asks where she’s going. “To the future!” she said.

It’s a mantra that the film’s co-screenwriter, Satoko Okudera, has taken to heart. After winning the Japan Academy Prize for Best Screenplay in 1995 for “Haunted School,” she cemented herself along with animator Mamoru Hosoda when they worked together on “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (2006), an anime sequel to Yasutaka Tsutsui’s iconic adolescent sci-fi novel. Hosoda and Okudera would go on to collaborate on two further anime features: familial cyberthriller “Summer Wars” (2009) and parenthood drama “Wolf Children” (2012).

It’s a triple occasion for which to speak with Okudera: Her collaborations with Mamoru…