Japanese studio Nikkatsu has bolstered its Filmart sales slate with A Big Home, the next feature from director Ryo Takebayashi.
The documentary is filmed in a children’s home in Tokyo and explores the lives of young people who live apart from their parents due to bereavement, abuse or financial problems.
It marks the third feature by Takebayashi, whose previous film was comedy Mondays: See You ‘This’ Week!, which played at festivals including Sitges and Shanghai in 2023. His first was Bookmark 14, a doc that followed 35 teenagers from the same school class.
A Big Home is produced by Chocolate Inc. and a local release is planned this autumn.
Producer is Takumi Saitoh, known as an actor for titles including Shin Ultraman, Downfall and Ramen Shop, but also as a director with filmmaking credits that include Blank 13, which won the Asian New Talent Award for best director at Shanghai International Film Festival in 2017.
“It was two and a half years ago when Takumi first invited me to visit this children’s home,” said Takebayashi. “The film documents the ordinally lives of some children and we made this film in the hope it would be the talisman for their lives.
“Someday, they will objectively look at their journey so far and realise that they have always had a strong ability to move forward, and that we have come this far thanks to the genuine support of many people around them. By watching them, I want audiences to witness that something important to all people is hidden in the difference between the sense of “normality” in everyday life, which you had never known before.”
Producer Saitoh said he was drawn to working with the director after watching Bookmark 14. “I thought that Takebayashi’s team would be able to work with children living in the children’s home towards the inevitable goal of making a movie,” recalls Saitoh. “I sincerely believe that this film was born out of necessity in our chaotic modern times. The audience is asked how to deal “a matter of course” in places where we never usually enter.”
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