In 2025, Maha Harada wrote and directed the film In My Father’s Room, based on her short story “An Unnecessary Man,” which was published in 2014. This film marks Harada’s debut as a director.

“I’ve always longed to express through visual art the worldview I usually express through words. 

In today’s polarized world, things are all too easily reduced to the ‘useful’ and the ‘useless.’ In particular, those in power and people regarded as successful tend to pursue what is ‘useful’ with single-minded focus, overwhelming efficiency, and blistering speed. 

This film tells the story of a father, his daughter, and the tea ceremony. The tea ceremony is both a Japanese art form and a symbol of Japanese spirituality. To some, it may seem ‘useless’ —something unnecessary and something they could easily live without. For them, a cup of matcha latte placed right in front of them would feel more important. In this way, many people move through life casually relegating all forms of art to the category of the ‘useless.’

And yet, for others, the tea ceremony is the universe itself. It is an object of awe — something to be revered, something one cannot help but grow attached to, and at times, an object of boundless love. In Japan, this unique relationship between tea and humanity has endured for more than 500 years. 

Finding an entire universe within things that might be considered ‘useless,’ and identifying it with their own inner self, some individuals develop a deep desire to become one with that universe. In this film, I set out to portray those people. Why? Because I see a quiet beauty in them. I find them endearing. 

This may not be a glamorous story full of exhilaration, but there is a light that can only be seen by those who, step by step and with simple honesty, journey into the universe of the ‘useless.’ That is what I hoped to convey through this film.”   

—Maha Harada