Yes, our documentary Flowers of Noto is now streaming on Amazon Prime, and it even had a theatrical release in Japan. But how did we get there? Let me take you back to where it all began—on a small YouTube channel in Italian, with just 6,000 followers. No sponsors. No big names. So, how on earth did this lead to a feature on Amazon in Japan?
The little narcissist in me wants to scream, “We made something beautiful, and people noticed!” Sure, I’d love to tell you that sheer talent and hard work got us here—that we’re two genius filmmakers who finally got our due recognition. But that’s not the whole truth. Yes, we created something valuable, but luck, timing, and a bit of magic played a far bigger role than we could’ve ever planned.
That is how luck works. You can’t plan for it; you don’t know when or where it will strike. But you can position yourself in its path by trying again and again. And that’s exactly what we did.
Let’s be real for a moment—if life were completely random and out of our hands, I’d be spending my days lounging in the bathtub, sipping wine, and flipping through porn novels. Why bother with anything else? But I don’t do that (most days), because I believe we can influence our future. We can’t predict the exact moment success will knock, but we can improve our odds by constantly taking action.
Here’s the thing: the more goals you chase, the more chances you have to achieve at least one of them. This philosophy led us to Amazon Prime, to movie theaters, and film festivals.
You might already know the backstory of Flowers of Noto. In March 2024, we joined a volunteer effort in the Noto Peninsula, which had been devastated by an earthquake just months earlier.
Our initial plan was simple: two videos—a VLOG following Tommaso Negri’s personal journey, and a short 5-10 minute documentary about Adriana, the remarkable woman who organized the volunteer work. We thought we’d publish the VLOG on YouTube and sell the short film to Italian news outlets (newspapers like Repubblica, Corriere, etc.)
But something shifted during those first 48 hours of filming. This wasn’t just Adriana’s story, nor was it simply Tommaso’s. It was much bigger than any one person. We scrapped our original plan and focused on creating a single, longer documentary that captured the myriad perspectives that unfolded during our experience in Noto.
Thus, Flowers of Noto was born. Did we think about Amazon back then? Not at all. Our only goal was to tell the story as beautifully as possible and share it on our YouTube channel. We hoped Italian news outlets would notice. Maybe influencers or YouTubers would talk about it. We sent countless DMs to influencers who loved Japan, travel, or humanitarian stories… and nothing happened. Nobody even replied. Fuck Italian influencers! In terms of views, the video was an average release on our channel, and not many people were watching it.
But here’s the twist: those who did watch it loved it. Whether they were Italian followers or Japanese friends, the reaction was the same—people laughed, cried, and felt deeply moved by the film. Flowers of Noto had something special.
The question became: how could we get this film in front of more people? We decided to try Japanese cinemas. We compiled a list of every small indie theater in the country and sent the documentary to all of them. To our surprise, almost everyone replied. They loved the film—but it was too short. A 30-minute film isn’t quite long enough for the big screen. We were ready to call it quits.
Then something happens. One email stood out: “I love the film, but it’s too short for theaters. However, I distribute films to streaming platforms. How about I pitch it to Amazon? I’m confident they’ll love it.”
And just like that, things started to click into place. At the same time, a few theaters also expressed interest, despite the film’s length. Before we knew it, Flowers of Noto was playing at Uplink, one of Tokyo’s most influential cinemas, and in theaters across Nagoya and Osaka.
Our YouTube expectations fell flat, but our little documentary made waves in Japan. We got incredibly lucky, but luck only favors those who show up. We adapted, we persevered, and we stayed open to possibilities we hadn’t even considered.
Maybe that’s the real lesson here: Try, fail, adapt, and try again. Every attempt gets you one step closer.
Comments