EXCLUSIVE: Japanese studio Shochiku has boarded sales of Daniel Raim’s documentary The Ozu Diaries and has already closed key deals in the US, Europe and Asia.
The US feature, which premiered in Venice Classics last September, has been picked up for North America (The Criterion Collection / Janus Films), France (Carlotta Films), Spain (A Contracorriente Films) and South Korea (Jinjin Pictures). Turner Classic Movies previously secured TV rights for North America and Shochiku will distribute the film in Japan this autumn.
Shochiku will introduce the documentary to further buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin next week, with a market screening scheduled for February 15.
The film traces how iconic Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu transformed personal loss and wartime trauma into enduring masterpieces such as Tokyo Story, Good Morning, Late Spring and Floating Weeds.
It draws on private journals, letters, photographs, drawings and never-before-seen home movies to provide insight into one of Japan’s most acclaimed and influential directors, who died in 1963. Ozu’s own words are combined with reflections from actress Kyoko Kagawa and acclaimed filmmakers Wim Wenders, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tsai Ming-liang and Luc Dardenne.
US director Raim has previously directed shorts focused on Ozu, including In Search Of Ozu and Ozu & Noda. Like those shorts, The Ozu Diaries is produced by Yuki Machida and Raim for Adama Films. Raim is also known for documentaries such as Harold And Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story, which played at Cannes in 2015, and Fiddler’s Journey To The Big Screen, about the making of musical film Fiddler On The Roof.
After Venice, The Ozu Diaries went on to play at festivals including Busan, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Raim, who wrote, edited and directed the documentary, said: “Eight years ago, I began collaborating with The Criterion Collection on a short documentary about Ozu. That project became the beginning of The Ozu Diaries – a journey that grew slowly, patiently, into a feature film. To now have Criterion and Janus Films as our North American partners feels like coming full circle.”
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