EXCLUSIVE: Japan’s Bitters End has acquired world sales rights to comedy It’s All Bananas! and will introduce international buyers to the feature at Busan’s ACFM this week.
The film is led by three Japanese pop stars — Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Shingo Katori and Goro Inagaki — who find themselves caught up in a series of bizarre and seemingly disconnected events. Encounters with a cast of peculiar characters gradually draw the three into an unpredictable world where reality and fantasy begin to blur.
The surreal comedy is directed by Kenji Yamauchi, whose 2015 feature Her Father, My Lover and 2016 title At The Terrace were both selected for Tokyo International Film Festival.
He also directed a section of omnibus film The Bastard And The Beautiful World, which starred Kusanagi, Katori and Inagaki. It’s All Bananas! is seen as a continuation of that collaboration.
As well as their pop careers, Inagki is known for (Ab)normal Desire and 13 Assassins, Kusanagi has credits including Bullet Train Explosion, and Katori has featured in Everything Will Be Owlright! and Zatoichi.
Produced by Culen and Geek Pictures, the film opened in Japan on June 27 and Bitters End have picked up the rights following that release.
The indie banner had two films at Cannes this year – Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Competition title All Of A Sudden, which it co-produced and shared sales duties with Cinefrance Studios, and Yukiko Sode’s Un Certain Regard title All The Lovers In The Night, which it produced and sold. Previous Hamaguchi titles handled by the company include Asako I & II and Oscar-winner Drive My Car.
Its ACFM slate also includes Maha Harada’s In My Father’s Room, which plays in Busan’s Window on Asian Cinema strand.
The 21st ACFM is set to take place from October 10-13 alongside BIFF.
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