Carving the Divine (2019, 99 min.) is a documentary film that offers a rare look into a 1400-year-old Buddhist woodcarving tradition and the practitioners struggling to preserve its legacy in a rapidly changing Japan. Master Koun Seki, the former apprentice of renowned Busshi, Kourin Saito, takes us on a trip through a guild culture unlike anything existing today in the West. From the growing pains of a novice apprentice, to the entire guild working together as one body to create breathtaking works of art, to the monkish practice of the famed, Grand Master Saito himself, alone on his quest to “leave nothing but great works behind.” 

Born and raised in Japan, Seki Yujiro earned a BA in Film from the University of California, Berkeley. He moved to Los Angeles to work as a director of the video department for Intermarket Design. After attaining permanent U.S. residency, he began studying full time in the Cinematography program at UCLA Extension. Upon graduating from that program, he embarked on the journey of making his feature documentary project, Carving the Divine: Buddhist Sculptors of Japan.  Carving the Divine has become the official selection for 30 film festivals, showing in a total of 22 countries, and won awards at 13 festivals worldwide, such as winning the Best Director Award of a Foreign Language Documentary at World Cinema Milan and premiering at the famous Raindance Film Festival in London.