05/11/2024 - This co-production between Japan’s Fourier Film and Italy’s Antropica which is due to be shot in the summer next year, conveys an environmental message through the story of two twin sisters

Japanese director Lisa Takeba (whose most well-known works are The Pinkie, which debuted in the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Bright Future section in 2014, and the horror film based on the manga of the same name Signal 100, which was presented in a premiere in the 2019 Sitges Film Festival) is scheduled to shoot Children of the River, a Japanese-Italian co-production which explores themes of identity and loss through the story of two twin sisters.

The film is scheduled to be shot in the summer of 2025 and is set along the beautiful rivers of Shikoku, located in the southern part of Japan. It tells the story of a summer journey of self-discovery undertaken by twin sisters who are young art students. The region is also a Buddhist pilgrimage site, featured in Haruki Murakami’s novels.

The film’s producers are Shozo Ichiyama of Fourier Film in partnership with Nagoya TV and Parsifal Reparato for Italy via his firm Antropica (which produced the documentary She in 2023, directed by Reparato himself). This will be the first project to take advantage of the co-production agreement between Italy and Japan signed back in August. Children of the River, which has a budget of 550,000 dollars, took part in the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market which unspooled during the TIFF COM - Tokyo International Film Festival (30 October – 1 November) in order to find other partners for the 220,000 dollar-shortfall in its funding.

Reparato claimed he chose the project because it tells a universal story rich in spirituality, exploring man’s relationship with nature. The film promises to enthral Italian audiences and western viewers more generally, because its roots are firmly anchored in European culture through its references to Greek mythology.

The director has actually described the project as a “landscape painting”, with the natural environment playing a central role and a subtle environmental stance conveyed through its visual language. Post-production will be wholly managed in Italy, as Takeba has confirmed.

(Translated from Italian)