Looking for Ai : Introduction
This Is the story of the growth, through Aikido, of one young Japanese woman.
She journeys to the United States on assignment for her job. Our audience has plenty of chances to laugh at her misconceptions of the different cultures in America.
Often it seems as though many martial arts films are mainly based on “showing action.” We would like to convey Japanese martial arts of Aikido as something more familiar and meaningful to the daily life of the audience. By weaving the experiences of each character and the principles of Aikido into the story, we, as storytellers, can make this unforgettable story both entertaining and relatable for the general public.
This film will be submitted to film festivals, competitions and intended for screening at commercial theaters in both the US and Japan, so that it can be widely viewed by not only martial arts groups but also the general public.
Estimated run-time of 88 minutes, as a feature length film.
Synopsis
Ai Kido, a young journalist who works for a sports magazine in Tokyo, is assigned to investigate an Aikido Instructor who helped a football team in Colorado win a championship many years ago, then suddenly disappeared. Jim Thompson, who practices Aikido in Boulder, Colorado, assists Ai’s investigation. She meets Rose Lucas at the Aikido Dojo where Jim practices, and becomes her roommate. They have some difference in culture at first, but gradually change their view of each other. During her investigation with Jim, Ai finds the Aikido instructor was Kojun Sezaki, who has a connection to her long-lost father. However, she also encounters George Gutter and his sensei, Batto Honmei, who envied and hated Sezaki in the past… and begins to interfere with Ai.
Will Ai find what she is looking for?
