There’s much buzz abound about films, as is typical around this time of year.

The Golden Globes awards took place earlier this month. The Oscars are right around the corner. And this week are the Screen Actors Guild awards, also focused on Hollywood hits, as well as the Sundance Film Festival, focused on new independent films.

Friends of mine like to patronize and sometimes invest in films in this second category (easy to do nowadays thanks to Kickstarter), and I’ve considered joining them as a financial backer on occasion though haven’t done so yet.

Part of the reason is that while all of the above events capture the headlines worldwide, all take place in the U.S. and are hence naturally U.S.-centric.

Accordingly, I’m enthusiastic to announce that I’ve decided to support an ambitious film production which sits off the radar for most who might dabble in financing films in the States.

The film is called Startup Girls, and it takes place in Japan. It depicts the drama between two opposite young women. One is naturally hungry to create something new based on her whims and curiosities, often hopping from one interest to the next, while the other woman feels anchored by the socially acceptable path.

Startup Girls strives to capture the spirit of those trying to change the world through innovation, breaking free from the conventional rules of society and social taboos. Whereas such ambition may be celebrated in certain segments of Western society, surmounting these constraints in Japan is a particularly daunting proposition.

I’ve written before about Japan’s underestimated appeal for investing in innovative ventures, whether it be for pure capital appreciation objectives, or for projects which aspire to a double bottom line like Startup Girl.

Startup Girls arrives on the scene at an important time for the world’s third largest economy, which desperately needs to accelerate its innovation gearing. Japan’s governmental and corporate sectors have awoken to the importance of innovation in order to confront the nation’s monumental demographic challenges. However, hurdles to such good intentions remain intact. The two most pernicious in my opinion are: a cultural context of risk aversion; and an under-utilization of a consequential yet heretofore largely untapped talent pool, namely women professionals.

Startup Girls takes aim at these two barriers head-on.

I encourage anyone interested in making the world a better place to consider watching Startup Girls in theaters when it’s released later this year. The film is in Japanese but a subtitled version also exists. Deep bow to Casey Wahl and his team for their vision and audacity in this project.