EXCLUSIVE: Japan’s Taiyo Kikaku is set to make its first foray into feature films with animation The Bear Hunter (working title), directed by Takeshi Yashiro and written by Anita Doron of Oscar-nominated The Breadwinner.
The stop-motion animation will incorporate wood-carved puppets and centres on the Matagi, a group of traditional winter hunters from northern Japan with their own distinctive culture.
The film is produced by Waterloo Ezaki of Taiyo Kikaku, a company primarily known for producing TV commercials and music videos, and will be the company’s first feature film. The project is co-produced by Caroline Stern of London and Vancouver-based Canoe Film.
“The Matagi offer a fresh perspective on Japanese identity, distinct from the samurai or farmers typically seen in cinema,” Ezaki told Screen.
“The film explores the differing relationships with bears held by the Matagi and the Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Japan. Through this independent project, I want to build something unique using wood-carved puppets that evoke the spirit of Japanese folk art.”
Ezaki met with potential partners about the project at the Cannes market.
Director Yashiro is known for stop-motion shorts such as Norman the Snowman: The Northern Lights (2013) and Gon, The Little Fox (2019), which won the Animation Division Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival.
In 2022, Yashiro won the Noburo Ofuji Award for excellence in animation at the Mainichi Film Awards for his film Pukkulapottas And Hours In The Forest. Yashiro also provided wooden models for upcoming stop-motion action feature Hidari, directed by Masashi Kawamura, for which Keanu Reeves will lend his voice to the title role.
Doron is a Hungarian Canadian screenwriter known as the co-writer of Nora Twomey’s The Breadwinner, which was nominated for best animated feature at the Academy Awards in 2018. She is also a director of live-action features, most recently Maya & Samar.
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