Hero's Island

Source: Junjo Shindo／KODANSHA Ltd.

‘Hero’s Island’

Japan’s Toei is to handle international sales of Keishi Otomo’s mystery thriller Hero’s Island and will launch the film at the upcoming Cannes market.

The three-hour-plus epic traces the lives of a group of outlaws and outsiders in Okinawa over a period of 20 years, from the post-war era to the 1970s, when the island chain was finally returned to Japan by the US in 1972.

The cast is led by Satoshi Tsumabuki, who won best actor at the Japan Academy Awards in 2023 for Kei Ishikawa’s A Man, and also features Suzu Hirose, who stars in Ishikawa’s upcoming Cannes Competition title A Pale View Of Hills.

The ensemble cast also includes Masataka Kubota, who won best supporting actor from the Japan Academy for A Man, and Eita Nagayama, who starred in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Cannes 2023 award-winner Monster.

Directed by Otomo, best known for his series of films based on the samurai manga Rurouni Kenshin, the film is based on Junjo Shindo’s 2018 novel, which won Japan’s Naoki Prize for literature.

The film was produced by Toho and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan and is set for a local release on September 19.

Director Otomo has said that getting the film produced was a multi-year effort, which was delayed several times by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Otomo is also the director of Netflix’s upcoming manga adaptation 10Dance, which is set to debut on the streaming platform this December.

Topics