UK distributor Modern Films has picked up Annecy premiere Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman for the UK and Ireland from German sales agent The Match Factory.
It is the directorial debut of US-born French composer Pierre Földes, who also wrote the screenplay and score, and is based on a collection of short stories by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. Modern Films released Cannes premiere Drive My Car in the UK and Ireland in November 2021, also a Murakami adaptation.
The animation follows the lives of multiple characters as they navigate existence after the 2011 tsunami in Japan, including a bank employee without ambition, his frustrated wife, a delusional accountant, a lost cat and a giant talkative frog. The animation combines multiple techniques, including a live-action shoot, 3D motion capture and classic 2D animation.
Producers are Tom Dercourt (France’s Cinema Defacto), Luc Déry (Canada’s micro_scope) and Emmanuel-Alain Raynal (France’s Miyu Productions). The voice cast includes Katherine King So, Shoshana Wilder, Nadia Verucci, Jesse Noah Gruman and John Vamvas.
A release is planned for early 2023. Gébéka Films is distributing in France.
Modern Films CEO Eve Gabereau described Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman as having “its own distinct style that speaks directly and poetically to a Murakami fanbase, while also appealing to anime and world cinema followers too”. She added: “It is grown-up and very moving, joining the ranks of such predecessors as Flee and Waltz With Bashir.”
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