EXCLUSIVE: Japan’s Nippon TV (NTV) is launching sales on new titles by hot Japanese directors Takashi Miike and Shunji Iwai at the European Film Market (EFM).

Takashi Miike

Based on Masashi Sada’s novel and song, Miike’s The Lion Standing In The Wind follows a Japanese doctor who travels to Africa and treats a boy soldier. Miike shot the film in Japan and Kenya last year.

Takao Osawa, who starred in Miike’s Shield Of Straw, plays the doctor and the cast also includes Satomi Ishihara and Yoko Maki. Japanese release is scheduled for March 14, 2015.

Shunji Iwai’s animated feature The Case Of Hana And Alice is a follow-up to his live action high school romance Hana And Alice (2004).

The story revolves around how the titular characters first met, while investigating the rumoured murder of a classmate.

Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki, who played the leads in the live action version, voice the animation. Japanese release is scheduled for February 20, 2015.

NTV has several other new titles on its EFM slate, including Yu Irie’s Second World War spy drama Joker Game; Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s 80s-set romance Initiation Love; and Takahisa Zeze’s Strayer’s Chronicle, about children with superhuman powers.