Picture Character

Picture Character
Director: Ian Cheney, Martha Shane | 81 min | 2019 | United States, Germany, Japan, Argentina

"I just thought it was something that would make people happy."
– Shigetaka Kurita, inventor of the emoji

Ian Cheney and Martha Shane take a deep dive past the smiling poos into the complex, and often a world of the creators, lovers, arbiters of emoji – the world’s newest pictorial language.

The rapid rise ↗ of emoji (Japanese for “picture character”) is a global phenomenon without precedent.

Their widespread use and ability to convey complex messages have not only cemented their place as an emerging digital language but have also prompted difficult questions about the creation of a language.

Everything you always wanted to know about emojis but were afraid to ask.
– Frank Sheck, 'The Hollywood Reporter'

Not least among those questions are issues of race, identity and inclusion. Approval of new emojis in the hands of a private company, the Unicode Consortium — the members of which are mostly white, male tech executives.

Shigetaka Kurita, the Japanese interface designer who invented emojis over 20 years ago, created 176 emojis. From their humble beginnings in Japan, they've spread – to mobile the over.

There are now 2,823 emojis.

Previous festival selections include:
Tribeca
Hot Docs
AFI Docs