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Canadian craftsman David Bull and American designer Jed Henry work together, despite being separated by an ocean and a generation gap, to reinvigorate the ancient art of Japanese woodblock prints known as ukiyo-e. With fewer than 10 ukiyo-e artists left in Japan, the threat to this world-renowned, centuries-old tradition is real. David is a self-taught ukiyo-e artisan who learned the technique on his own, without apprenticeship to a master. So when young Jed approaches him to collaborate, he can hardly say no. Combining old-school craft, new-school design and contemporary pop culture references from Super Mario to Pokémon, the outsiders revive the art form known worldwide as the Face of Japan. Ukiyo-e Heroes is an addictive process-driven documentary that preserves hundreds of years of mastery by showing the creation of a woodblock print from start to finish, and features iconic Japanese artists and grand masters whose tools and materials support the work. Angie Driscoll

Co-presented by TORONTO REEL ASIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.