simple hand drawn image of a dinner table

Zakkubalan is an independent film and art production company based in New York City and Tokyo.

Drawing from a diverse slate of disciplines — including film production, fine art, and curation — Neo Sora, Albert Tholen, and Aiko Masubuchi create engaging and thoughtful narratives with humor, a political bent, and an international perspective.

Zakkubalan produced the short films THE CHICKEN (dir. Neo Sora, 2020) — which world premiered at Locarno Film Festival in 2020 and continued to screen at internationally-regarded film festivals including New York Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and Hong Kong International Film Festival — and SUGAR GLASS BOTTLE (dir. Neo Sora, 2022), which won Indie Memphis' top short film prize, Best Narrative Short.

They are currently in post-production on Sora’s debut fiction feature, EARTHQUAKE.

The word zakkubalan is a Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of cutting open a heart to reveal what’s inside—used when people speak openly and honestly to one another.