Japan’s Happinet Phantom Studios is to handle world sales of Yoko Yamanaka’s Desert Of Namibia, which is set to world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
The drama marks the second feature of rising Japanese writer-director Yamanaka, who became the youngest director to premiere in Berlin aged 20 with her debut Amiko in 2018.
Her latest stars Yuumi Kawai, whose credits include award-winning Plan 75, which played in Un Certain Regard in 2022, and Venice Horizons 2022 title A Man. A new look at Kawai in the film can be seen above.
She plays Kana, a bipolar 21-year-old who is directionless and even falls in love just to kill time. Her boyfriend, Honda, with whom she lives, tries to please Kana by paying the rent and cooking for her. But she starts to feel he is a burden as she deepens her relationship with Hayashi, a self-confident creator.
The cast also includes Daichi Kaneko and Kanichiro.
Producers are Keisuke Konishi, Shinji Ogawa, Masashi Yamada and Tokuji Suzuki, for Bridgehead and Cogitoworks.
It is set for release in Japan this year through Happinet Phantom Studios.
This week, Yamanaka received a boost for her next feature, Polaris, at the Focus Asia industry platform, held as part of the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. The project received the TAICCA/Focus Asia Co-Production Award of €10,000.
Produced by Shoichiro Kawashima of Twenty First City Inc, the film is set to be a portrait of the bar Polaris, which lights up at night in Tokyo, drawing in “women” of diverse backgrounds whose lives intertwine, only to part at dawn.
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