As an ardent admirer, I’m thrilled to share that the visionary producer, Yamamoto Teruhisa, renowned for the Academy Award-winning masterpiece “Drive My Car,” is extending his support to “White Flowers and Fruits.” This promising debut feature film is the brainchild of the up-and-coming Japanese director, Sakamoto Yukari.
The movie has been chosen for the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), which runs alongside the Hong Kong FilMart and serves as a project market.
A Japanese-language drama, in need of further financing and festival showings, delves into the consequences of a suicide at a Christian girls’ boarding school. The narrative centers around Anna, an outcast who stumbles upon her late roommate’s diary and encounters a spectral flame representing her ghost. After ingesting the flame, Anna acquires extraordinary dance skills and starts solving the puzzle surrounding her friend’s demise.
Yamamoto pointed out that what caught his attention in this project was how the script skillfully keeps the main character at its core, seamlessly moving between horror and coming-of-age themes. Even as it changes genres, it consistently conveys the universal human need to connect with and comprehend others.
Prior to his career in film editing, Sakamoto graduated with a philosophy degree from Sophia University and then moved on to study film at Tokyo University of the Arts. He has previously directed various short films, such as “Reborn” in the anthology film “21st Century Girl” (2019) and “The Tree” (2022), which earned him the Art Renaissance Award at the Tokyo Geidai Artfes.
The filmmaker found ideas in traditional Japanese stories about spirits, specifically those that appear as glowing, ethereal flames. As a child, Sakamoto recalled his mother saying, “I wish my father would return, even as a ghost.” To her, the departed were not objects of fear but symbols of love and memory.
Sakamoto additionally pointed out that teenage suicide served as a driving force behind the project: “When people discuss it, they often express sympathy with a casual ‘Too bad for them,’ to appease their shallow interest. They seem to try to comprehend the reasons behind suicide as if it were mere idle chatter.
With a projected budget of around 30 million yen, equivalent to approximately USD 221,000, the production team has managed to accumulate about 75% of their goal of 40 million yen. This project is being developed by Bitters End, Inc. and Chiaroscuro Co., Ltd., with ambitions to broaden its reach beyond Asian markets, penetrating into European territories as well.
Yamamoto mentioned that he particularly recommends this movie for young individuals who experience pressure from society to adhere to a specific lifestyle, often feeling uneasy or out of place, to watch.
Ryusuke Hamamoto has been credited for producing films such as “Drive My Car” (2021) – a movie that won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes and the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards. Additionally, he produced “Birds Without Names” in 2017, “Asako I & II” in 2018, and “Wife of a Spy” in 2020. Following his departure from C&I Entertainment, Hamamoto joined The Walt Disney Company (Japan), where he has since produced “Lost Man Found” (2022), “Because We Forget Everything” (2022), and “Gannibal” (2022).
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2025-03-19 11:18