Born with it, a short film directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, brings to the screen a theme that is not often discussed: the prejudice against half Japanese living in Japan. It tells the story of a half Japanese half black young kid attending his first day at school. As soon as he enters the room, a classmate states that since he is black, he probably has AIDS. From then on, not only he is not recognized as Japanese, but he is also avoided by other children, since they believe he is sick. The last scene is particularly touching: before entering the school, he faces his reflection on the door's glass, and when he goes inside, the shot stays fixed on the place he was before, and we can hear a sea of whispers - the whispers that this kid will have to live with during his whole life. This short film reminds me of a Japanese film - Swallowtail Butterfly, that, in a more comic way, portrays a character that, even though he was born and raised in Japan and can speak only Japanese, since both his parents are American, he is never recognized as Japanese. In the case of Born with it, Keisuke has to deal not only with the fact that he will always be seen as a foreigner, but also with racial prejudice. The prejudice raised by the fact that Japanese society denies anyone with physical characteristics different from the standard, and the impact of this point of view on people's lives is an issue for Japanese contemporary society, and this short film portrays it in a clear way.
