EXCLUSIVE: EST N8, the LA-based international film sales and financing outfit, has closed multi-territory deals on Masaki Nishiyama’s Japanese horror The Invisible Half.
The film has been acquired for North America (Cleopatra Entertainment), the Indian subcontinent and airlines (Pictureworks), Taiwan (Cola Films) and the Philippines (Crystalsky Entertainment).
The story follows a teenager of mixed heritage in rural Japan who is hunted by a monster she can see only through her smartphone. Built around “hafu” – the Japanese term for people of mixed heritage that implies they are only half Japanese – it explores notions of belonging in a society that prizes sameness.
The cast is led by Lisa Siera, Miyu Okuno and Runa Hirasawa. Producers are Atsushi Sakamoto and Noboru Suzuki for Test 8 Pictures.
“We made this film in Ehime, far from the centre of Japan’s film industry, with a young crew and the support of the entire local community,” said Sakamoto. “From day one, our goal was ‘local to global’: to grow a film carefully in one place and carry it out to the world.”
The film received its world premiere at Raindance and received theatrical releases over the summer in Japan through Geek Pictures and CIS territories. EST N8 further showcased the feature at TIFFCOM in Tokyo this week and is in active conversations with further buyers.
Cleopatra Entertainment, whose genre catalogue includes the US release of Japanese sci-fi hit Shin Ultraman, will release the film in North America on November 10 under its Cleopatra Venom horror label.
In the Philippines, the film will be part of Fear Factory, a new cinematic experience from Crystalsky Entertainment that combines film, digital technology and interactive cinema. The company previously handled the local release of hit Korean animation The King Of Kings and is the creative force behind Sine Sindak, one of the country’s biggest horror film festivals.
“Masaki has made a horror film that is unmistakably Japanese yet speaks to anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, and buyers have responded to exactly that,” said Cathy Ni, head of sales and US distribution at EST N8. “This is only the start of the film’s international life.”
The deals were negotiated for EST N8 by Ni and Jan Paul Villanueva, EVP of acquisitions and global distribution, alongside global sales and marketing executive Shams Pasha.
The company’s slate of titles includes Dean Colin Marcial’s Manila crime thriller Jaguar, executive produced by Jason Michael Berman, producer of Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest and Ben Affleck’s Air; Forza, a Bali- and Milan-set sports drama from The Raid producer Ario Sagantoro; the Annecy-selected animation Pilgrims; and Tetsuya Mariko’s Dear Stranger, starring Hidetoshi Nishijima of Drive My Car.
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