Kazuya Shiraish, Ilja Rautsi

Source: Charades

Kazuya Shiraish, Ilja Rautsi

EXCLUSIVE: Sinking its teeth into global genre films, Paris-based outfit Charades will launch sales at AFM for Kazuya Shiraishi’s Japanese shark thriller Charon and Ilja Rautsi’s Finnish Christmas Eve-set genre film Red Snow.

Charon is about a brutal clash between the Japanese yakuza and Korean mafia that breaks out on a ship before being interrupted by an even greater predator, namely the great white shark as the trapped, bloodied and hunted survivors fight to survive.

It is produced by Japan’s mur mur Studio and currently shooting between Taiwan, Kitakyushu and Okinawa. The film will undergo extensive VFX work and be ready for release in 2027.

Japanese filmmaker Shiraishi’s previous features include The Blood Of Wolves, The Devil’s Path (nominated for five Japanese Academy awards in 2014) and 11 Rebels. He also directed three episodes of Netflix’s female wrestler drama series The Queen Of Villains.

Red Snow is Finnish filmmaker Rautsi’s debut feature, and is about a 16-year-old girl who dreams of a glittering vampire prince but instead is met on the night before Christmas by a balding, beer-bellied 49-year-old bloodsucker in a Santa suit who invades homes and devours entire families.  

The film is produced by Finland’s Bufo, Estonia’s Allfilm and Sweden’s Hobab in association with the Finnish Film Foundation and stars Jussi award-winning actor Hannu-Pekka Björkman alongside a rising cast led by Anni Iikkanen.

Rautsi’s 2018 short film Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre played at more than 100 festivals and won over a dozen prizes. He also co-wrote the scripts for Hanna Bergholm’s Sundance world premiere Hatching, Saara Saarela’s Memory Of Water and Teemu Nikki’s Snot & Splash. 

Red Snow is currently shooting in Tallinn, Estonia and is expected to be completed by the end of next year. B-Plan Distribution will release the film in Finland. 

Charades will launch sales for both films at the upcoming AFM in Los Angeles (November 11-16).

Topics