Japan’s Nikkatsu has acquired worldwide sales rights for What Should We Have Done?, a documentary about one family’s approach to mental health that has proved a sleeper success at the local box office.
The studio will introduce the title to international buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) next week after seeing the documentary take $837,000 (¥130m) from more than 90,000 admissions to date.
Directed by Tomoaki Fujino, the feature is centred on the filmmaker’s own sister, Masako, a medical student who began to exhibit signs of schizophrenia in 1983. After graduating, Masako became a recluse and her parents – both doctors – set up a research lab in their own home. Fujino recorded family meetings and conversations about Masako from 2001 until her death in 2021, documenting how her parents refused to seek treatment and confined her to the home.
The feature debuted at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and played in competition at Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival and Nippon Connection. It began a limited domestic rollout via Tofoo Films on December 7 and is still playing in select cinemas nationwide.
Fujino has previously directed several films about the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido, Japan, including Get Back: Captive Ainu Remains (2019), Kamuycep Salmon Fishing And Indigenous Rights (2020) and Ainu Style Burial, 2019, And Toepets-kotan (2021). He is working on another documentary about the Ainu.
What Should We Have Done? is produced by Zou-Shima, an independent documentary team led by Fujino and producer Yumiko Asano.
Nikkatsu is known for handling titles such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud, which played at Venice and was Japan’s entry for this year’s international feature film Oscar.
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