Yae: Blind Samurai Woman

Ever since he could hold his dad’s camcorder without dropping it, Daniel Cotroneo dreamt of being a filmmaker. What started as making silly movies in his hometown of Oakland, CA turned into the real deal – working the lighting crew on sets including Mad Men, Star Trek Into Darkness and Django Unchained. Whenever he could sneak close to the camera, he’d absorb the work of legends such as Quentin Tarantino and JJ Abrams.

Years later, he began operating camera himself on three seasons of This Is Us. (Yes, he adds: he was probably handheld on a 65mm macro while you were crying.)  Daniel’s work behind the lens has sent him around the world, as Director of Photography on While We Live, a Best Picture nominee in the Danish Academy Awards, and for A Beautiful Life, a number-one global hit on Netflix in 2023.

Daniel has collaborated on three films with director Akiko Izumitani, including The Other Side (ECA winner, 2015). For Yae: The Blind Samurai Woman, Akiko challenged the team with several ambitious samurai sword fight sequences set in ancient Japan. Akiko’s prowess for action clearly resonates with viewers, with Yae receiving nearly 1 million views on YouTube.

Now, in 2025, in the face of Hollywood’s existential crisis, Daniel sees hope in the uncertainty. He’s jumping “lens first” into independent features, launching his own production company, Flashback Pictures.