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"Am I pretty?" Kani Releasing has debuted an official US trailer for a Japanese indie film titled Desert of Namibia, the second feature made by young Japanese filmmaker Yoko Yamanaka. This first premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar section, and it will be playing in US art house theaters starting this May – one year later. The film stars Yumi Kawai as 21-year-old Satsuki – she swaps boyfriends frequently, unconcerned with career or societal norms. Her unpredictable behavior leads to a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, as she navigates a rigid, patriarchal society. Described in one review as: "Elusive, Desert of Namibia is an ultra-melancholic slapstick comedy, a slow-burn vaudeville, a fantasy film without monsters or ghosts–or else entirely populated by monsters and ghosts, but with a seemingly everyday quality..." And it also "masterfully conveys the chaos and disarray of a young woman at odds with...

Exclusive: Kani Releasing has acquired North American rights to Yoko Yamanaka’s Desert Of Namibia from Japan’s Happinet Phantom Studios Corp.

The youth drama, starring popular newcomer Yuumi Kawai, premiered in Directors Fortnight at this year’s Cannes film festival, where it won the Fipresci prize, and is scheduled to screen at the inaugural Directors’ Fortnight Extended in Los Angeles this weekend.

Yamanaka’s second feature following 2018 award-winning drama Amiko, the film is about a disaffected 21-year-old working in a beauty salon, where the expectations placed on women her age are difficult to ignore.

Bored with her boyfriend, she begins a new relationship that quickly become volatile and prompts her to take a few steps inside the desert of her emotions. Daichi Kaneko (It’s A Summer Film) and Kanichiro Sato (Kubi) also star.

Kani Releasing is planning a spring 2025 theatrical release for the film.

Directors...

Join us as we dive deep into Yoko Yamanaka‘s latest film, Desert of Namibia, a contemplative exploration of a 21-year-old Japanese wanderer, Kana, and her tangled relationships. Yamanaka, known for her debut Amiko (2017), returns with this stylistic and intimate portrayal of listlessness, set against the backdrop of a love triangle.

The film stars Yuumi Kawai, who reunites with Yamanaka after first being inspired by Amiko. Kawai’s portrayal of Kana—a woman torn between the stability of her partner Honda (Kanichiro) and the reckless excitement of artist Hayashi (Daichi Kaneko)—brings a raw, unpredictable edge to the story.

Shot in a European-inspired 4:3 aspect ratio, Desert of Namibia places the camera close to its protagonist, following her from start to finish. With striking cinematography by Shin Yonekura, especially in the pink hues and night scenes, and slow-burn editing by Banri Nagase, the film unfolds with a deliberate pace, reflecting Kana’s emotional journey.

Films about filmmaking always scratch a very specific itch, exploring the various ups and downs that go into any given project. This is the subject of director Sôshi Masumoto’s debut feature, “It’s a Summer Film!”, in which he celebrates cinema’s history and ponders its future, although not without some major narrative hiccups.

Time of Eve is streaming on Jff Theater

High-schooler Barefoot (Marika Ito) is a lover of cinema. She and her friends adore classic samurai flicks and dream of making a similar film of their own. Unfortunately, the school Film Club has already decided to fund the clichéd rom-com “I Can’t Help Loving You,” directed by resident ‘it girl’, Karin (Mahiru Koda). However, when Barefoot finds the perfect samurai lead for her script in the mysterious Rintaro (Daichi Kaneko), she pulls together an unlikely crew and sets out to make “Samurai Spring”.

Following Barefoot’s endeavours...

“Desert of Namibia,” about a caustic 21-year-old Japanese wanderer, embodies its protagonist’s listlessness to a fault. Director Yôko Yamanaka was still a teenager when she made her debut feature “Amiko” in 2017, a sharply funny high school film with the jagged, quick-cut energy of a YouTube travel vlog. It marked her as a Gen Z voice to watch. “Desert of Namibia” similarly follows a young woman trying to find herself, but it swings stylistically in the opposite direction, holding and zooming for hilariously, sometimes painfully long. Your mileage may vary, as the film has a tendency to meander off course, but that is exactly its intention.

Actress Yuumi Kawai is immediately magnetic as Kana, a young Tokyo woman hinted to have roots in a different city or country, but the film is often opaque about important details. While shot with straightforward clarity, its narrative, like its protagonist’s mood, feels enveloped by fog.

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 Yumi 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...

Headed, if not exclusively dealt by, Nikkatsu, the Japanese movie industry has been making an intense effort during the latest years, particularly after the relaunch of the Roman Porno series, to produce pinku films that are both not offensive or exploitative in any way, and appeal more to female audiences, by focusing on women character as much as men. Daigo Matsui’s “Hand” is a definite sample.

Hand is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

Sawako is an office worker who enjoys taking photos of older men and making scrapbooks with them. The men she has dated have always been older than her, with her fascination still carrying on as the story begins, even leading her to a trip down memory lane where she tries to meet a couple of them once more, while reminiscing about the times she had sex with them. At the same time, her boss, an older man,...

After he had started his career in the animation and character design at Studio Ghibli, working on such features as “Arietty” and “From Up on Poppy Hill”, Yojiro Arai eventually became a member of Studio Colorido, where he would not only work in the previously mentioned departments, but also take over directing duties. He also contributed to the animation and character design for “Sonny Boy & Dewdrop Girl”, a short feature by the studio’s co-founder Hiroyasu Ishida, who liked the cooperation with his colleague and decided to take over Arai’s job for his directing debut, the short feature “Typhoon Noruda”. Much like his colleague’s works, the inspiration for the story surrounding the friendship of two male high-school students and their encounter with a supernatural force, came from a drawing which helped him, Ishida and the remaining crew, to find the right language and design approach for the feature.

Sawako and Toshio are a manga artist power couple. When Sawako’s mother is in need of help, they have to relocate and things start to change. In the new environment, the women’s imagination is sparked by a driving instructor, who does not only liberates her from driving phobia, but also from her frail relationship.

“Sensei, Would You Sit Beside Me?” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival

Takahiro Horie’s (“Hurt” 2016) second feature film is part of the Tsutaya Creators’ Program and features Haru Kuroki (“A Bride For Rip van Winkle” 2016) and Tasuku Emoto (“And Your Bird Can Sing” 2018) as the lead actors. Both are prominent faces of the current Japanese cinema and always a secure choice when it comes to realistic drama. The screen presence of the couple is one of the more positive aspects of the film, though.

“Sensei, Would You Sit Beside Me?” begins...

Director Soshi Matsumoto feature-length debut “It’s a Summer Film!” comes after a series of commercials, music videos and TV, and had its world premiere at the 2020 Tokyo International Film Festival. Co-written with Naoyuki Miura, the film is an original mix of genres and a feel-good experience.

It’s a Summer Film! is screening at Nippon Connection

Barefoot (Marika Ito) is a high school student with a passion for Japanese period dramas, more precisely for classic Chanbara, samurai films. After being introduced as a child to “Zatoichi” by her grandmother, her passion grew stronger and stronger. Together with her girlfriends Kickboard (Yumi Kawai) a science fiction geek from the Astronomy Club, and Blue Hawai (Kilala Inori) a fierce Kendo Club member, they spend many afternoons watching samurai movies in their secret den, an abandoned van stuffed full of DVDs, books, posters – and a turtle – discussing passionately about old movies, rating...

Embrace the movie’s title with utmost respect. The adjective ‘colorless’ is possibly the most fitting word to describe the spineless nature of Yuka Tanaka (Ruka Ishikawa), a young ‘dokusha moderu’ (amateur fashion model) whose vacuous actions set an avalanche of unpleasant events rolling. Takashi might have even built the script around that word, which would explain why Yuka has the disposition of a human-sized speaking doll and why she has no idea how to respond to the question what kind of person she is, admitting she’d rather not find it out. The words coming out of her mouth could have literally only be written by a man who is fighting to grasp how “that other, incomprehensible and difficult gender” communicates. Yuka’s spoken words work only before she reveals her breasts for the first time, when her face radiates childish cheerfulness, when she’s all giggles and involved in small talk.