EXCLUSIVE: Karim Aïnouz’s long-gestating Neon River will finally shoot in 2027, produced by Brazil’s Gullane with K2 Pictures in Japan, Maneki Films in France and Inflamável in Germany. Buena Vista International (Brazil) is also on board.
Based on the novel Favela High-Tech by Marco Lacerda, Neon River is about a young woman, the daughter of a Japanese father and Brazilian mother, who goes to Japan where she starts a relationship with a powerful Japanese man and then falls in love with another man who, like her, is also of Japanese and Brazilian descent.
The screenplay is by Tainá Muhringer Tokitaka and Karim Aïnouz in collaboration with Inés Bortagaray.
Gullane and Aïnouz have been trying to put the English-language project together for over a decade.
“We had bought the rights of the book, and when Karim came on board, the next key step was to find the ideal Japanese co-producer because the film will be entirely shot in Japan,” said Gullane founder Fabiano Gullane.
Muneyuki Kii’s Japanese production and finance company K2 Pictures unveiled a $33m (¥5bn) production fund in Cannes earlier this week, with a development slate that includes the first documentary by Takashi Miike.
“This partnership with K2 Pictures is very special for us,” said Gullane. “It offers the opportunity to explore a Brazil-Japan coproduction.”
The casting process for Neon River has started in Brazil and Japan, with production set to start in 2027.
Gullane previously produced Aïnouz’s Motel Destino. “Karim is a key figure in Brazilian cinema, always ahead of his time,” the producer said.
Aïnouz’s most recent feature, Rosebush Pruning starring Callum Turner, Elle Fanning and Riley Keogh, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February.
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