Ema Ryan Yamazaki (she/her) is the Director of Instruments of a Beating Heart and editor of Black Box Diaries, which were both nominated for the Academy Awards in 2025. With a unique perspective as an insider and outsider in Japan, Ema strives to tell stories that empathetically show human struggle and triumph.  Ema has directed and edited three critically acclaimed features. The Making of a Japanese (2023) portrays students and teachers over one year in a Japanese elementary school; Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams (2019) explores the phenomenon of high school baseball as a microcosm of Japanese society; and Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators (2017), is a partially animated film about the couple who created the “Curious George” books.  Raised in Osaka by a Japanese mother and British father, Ema attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and began her career as an assistant editor to Sam Pollard. She has edited for notable directors such as Marc Levin and Naomi Kawase. Her latest editorial work, Poh Si Teng's American Doctor, premiered at Sundance in 2026. Ema is also a teacher and a founding board member of DDDD film school, a documentary community in Tokyo.