Japanese American climber Ashima Shiraishi rose to fame at a young age, from her first ascent of boulders in New York City’s Central Park at the age of 6 to winning notable titles in national and international climbing competitions by the age of 12. No stranger to the spotlight, Ashima has been featured in climbing documentaries including Reel Rock, and the subject of features in Outside, The New York Times, and CBS News highlighting her phenomenal athleticism and experience as a climber. 

Ashima: The film

In Ashima, filmmaker Kenji Tsukamoto chronicles the internal journey of the young climber as she navigates an attempt to break a world climbing record. Tsukamoto’s lens focuses on Ashima’s experience out of the spotlight, the only child of an immigrant mother and father living in New York City, as she navigates school, homework, and the pressures of the expectations that the climbing world, fame, and her family place on her. 

The film centers on Ashima and her father and coach, Poppo, as they plan her attempt of a formidable bouldering problem: Golden Shadow, in South Africa’s Borderlands, which would secure a world record. With nuanced storytelling and intimate camerawork, Tsukamoto offers a glimpse into the family’s discussions and into Ashima’s innermost thoughts and emotions as she aims to balance her athletic career and the ordinary challenges of adolescence.

Director Kenji Tsukamoto

Kenji Tsukamoto was born in Japan, and spent parts of his early childhood both in Japan and in the United States. When he was 8, his family permanently moved to the United States but then moved frequently: from Washington to Kentucky to Michigan. Over the course of his life and career, he has lived in more than 12 different states. 

“I got to see so many different aspects of what makes up America and made friends in all of these places,” he recalls. “It’s interesting to see what people fear. As you begin exchanging stories with kids, there is a level of understanding that grows. For people to be able to overcome stigma and differences through stories is something that has stayed with me.”

Centering immigrant voices and experiences

After studying film at Brigham Young University, Tsukamoto’s directorial debut was the feature segment “Beehive Stories: Millard County,” for a local PBS station. The documentary short centers on the Topaz Internment Camp in Millard County, Utah, and the experience of George Murakami, a Japanese American born in Berkeley, California, who was forcibly relocated to the camp at the age of 16 in 1942. The film earned Tsukamoto a local Emmy, and cemented his determination to work on projects centering Asian American voices. 

Ashima is an important portrait of an immigrant family, and the expectations that parents and children have for one another. A devout care grounds Ashima’s relationship with her mother and father, as they make sacrifices to support her career, and as Ashima strives both to make them proud and to forge her own path as a young adult.

The Vilcek Foundation is proud to host filmmaker Kenji Tsukamoto as part of our New American Perspectives cohort at the 2024 Hawai’i International Film Festival, presenting Ashima and discussions with the filmmaker. New American Perspectives is a platform to uplift and center immigrant and first-generation filmmakers and their work.