Film marks director’s second production shot outside his native Iran, after award-winning Certified Copy.

Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami has begun principal photography on his upcoming film The End, which is scheduled to shoot for eight weeks in Tokyo and the nearby city of Yokohama.

The story revolves around the unusual relationship between a student, who works as prostitute on the side to pay for her studies, and a brilliant, elderly academic who is one her clients.

The Japanese cast features television star Rin Takanashi as the beautiful, young student called Akiko and veteran actor Tadashi Okuno as the retired professor.

The picture is co-produced by long-time Kiarostami backer French MK2 and Japanese Eurospace, which has handled the director’s films in Japan for over a decade.

It is the second time Kiarostami has shot a feature outside of his native Iran, following on from Certified Copy, which was shot in Tuscany.