Five Japanese filmmakers nurtured through the Atmovie Global Track will pitch new projects at the Cannes Film Market during the Cannes Film Festival, making their debut in line with Japan’s designation as an honorary nation at this year’s market.
The accelerator, funded by the Japan Creator Support Fund under the Agency for Cultural Affairs and run by the Japan Arts Council, ran a lab with 14 fellows and international mentors before selecting five projects for a specialized industry showcase.
“Japan is often seen as a source of adaptable intellectual property, and this initiative focuses on creators using their own voices to tell their stories to the global market,” said Takeshi Moriya, chief producer and program founder whose credits include “Midnight Diner” and “Midnight Swan.”
The selected slate spans tones and genres. “Her Voice,” directed by Shun Seki, depicts girls who perform a rehabilitation operetta at a juvenile detention center. “Almost Goodbye” by Joya Yoshimi features a hikikomori man who frequents convenience stores every night and maintains a false identity. Tomomi Furuyama’s My Missing Half is a darkly comic Japanese-Filipino road movie rooted in the Filipino Manananggal myth. Based on a true story, Souji Arai’s Sake of Their Own follows a sake brewer trying to practice his craft in the Arizona desert with his Navajo wife. Sachiko Miyase’s “Portrait of Absence” follows three middle-aged women as they travel across Europe in search of a missing friend.
“What we are creating here is not just Japanese content, but a film that will be globally accepted at the screenplay stage,” said Deepti Chawla of Inflixious Content & Art India, a key international collaborator on the initiative and executive producer of Cannes 2024 title The Shameless and associate producer of Annecy Grand Prix winner Sultana’s Dream. “The focus is on building projects that deliver early structurally, financially and creatively. It is that change that makes this plan relevant to international partners.”
The program’s mentors include James Bang and Jenna Koo of the Busan Asian Film School, whose credits span “The World of Love” and “Little Forest.” Also participating is a wide network of producers from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and India, including Mizuno-Gray (Plan 75), Susumu Yamaguchi (Rental Family), Chiaki Yanagimoto (Aum), and Fumie Suzuki Lancaster (Fujiko).
The five filmmakers will be pitching to producers, investors and distributors during Cannes, with select pitching events and networking receptions scheduled at the Japan Pavilion.
