The Chatterboxes

Source: 2025 “The Chatterboxes” Production Committee

‘The Chatterboxes’

EXCLUSIVE: Japan’s Nikkatsu Corporation has secured international sales rights to The Chatterboxes, a language barrier-based comedy from director Ken Kawai, which is set to world premiere at Tokyo International Film Festival.

The film will premiere on October 30 in the Asian Future strand of the festival and Nikkatsu will introduce the title to international buyers at TIFFCOM, the market that runs parallel to TIFF from October 29-31.

The story revolves around a family of Deaf Japanese shop owners and a Kurdish family who move into an old Tokyo neighbourhood. When a misunderstanding starts a war of words between the two families, the only hearing daughter in the Japanese family and the only Kurdish family member who can speak Japanese are brought in as interpreters.

Filmed in Japanese Sign Language, Kurdish and Japanese, the film is set for a local release on November 29 through Gentle Underground Monkeys.

In order to learn JSL for the film, lead actress Itsuki Nagasawa (Where Love Goes) spent time living with a Deaf family. Her Deaf father is played by Kazuyoshi Kezuka, a ramen shop owner, in his acting debut.

Director Kawai, a child of deaf adults, previously directed two-part short film The Sheep Story, which played at Nippon Connection in 2016. He made his feature debut with Headless Girl in 2021.

Producer is Shuhei Ozawa of Gentle Underground Monkeys and the screenplay was co-written by Kawai, Kyohei Otoguro and Haruka Takenami (Shinpei). The film was part-financed by a crowdfunding campaign that raised $36,000 (¥5.5m).

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