EXCLUSIVE: Japan’s Bitters End has closed distribution deals for Yukiko Sode’s All The Lovers In The Night, fresh from its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.
The romantic drama has been acquired for Spain (Atalante), Bulgaria (NeterraTV+), Brazil (Belas Artes Grupo), South Korea (Pancinema), Taiwan (Andrews Film), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Singapore (Anticipate Pictures) and Indonesia (PT Falcon).
Bitters End said further agreements are under discussion for North America, the UK, Benelux, Poland, the Nordics, and Greece.
Based on an a 2011 novel by Mieko Kawakami, the story centres on a freelance proofreader who is more comfortable with herself than among others, but whose life begins to change when she connects with a high school physics teacher.
It stars Yukino Kishii, who won the Japan Academy Prize for best actress in 2023 for Small, Slow But Steady, and Tadanobu Asano, who won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for FX series Shogun.
Director Sode is known for her film Aristocrats, which played at Rotterdam in 2021. It was shot on 16mm film by Yasuyuki Sasaki, whose credits include Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud. Producer is C&I Entertainment
The Kawakami novel is the first from Japan to ever be nominated for the US National Book Critics Circle Award.
Sode said of the film: “It tells the story of a woman experiencing her first love, but alongside the beauty of romance, it also explores the contradictions, paradoxes, and deceptions inherent in human nature. This is not to dismiss love with a cynical ‘that’s just how it is,’ but rather to approach larger questions that touch upon the truths of the world.”
Bitters End will mount a theatrical release locally this autumn.
The Tokyo-based banner is also the distributor and Asian sales agent of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All Of A Sudden, whose Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto shared Cannes’ best actress award for their performances. That film is repped by Cinefrance International worldwide.
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