Japanese actress, creator and producer MEGUMI is back in Cannes to once again host the festival’s biggest private party. Since 2024, Japanese Night has drawn around 1,000 attendees to the talent showcase, connecting creators from Japan with the international film community and sparking fresh projects while deepening relationships.
“It’s about bringing cultures together through film,” she says. “I believe that is the true mission of cinema.”
MEGUMI arrives fresh from Udine’s Far East Film Festival, where her latest feature as a producer, Fujiko, won both the Golden Mulberry audience award and the Black Dragon critics prize — the first Japanese film to achieve this feat.
She has also signed a multi-year exclusive partnership with Netflix to produce multiple unscripted series. Debut project, Badly In Love, is a reality dating show focused on Japanese yankii (rebellious) subculture. It became a major hit when it launched last year, topping Japanese charts for four consecutive weeks and achieving global success.
Few entertainers in Japan have navigated reinvention quite as deftly as MEGUMI, who was an aspiring singer as a teen before gaining recognition as a defining face of the “Heisei gravure” boom, becoming a ubiquitous presence on television. She later returned to music before launching her own businesses and established herself as a versatile actress, before gradually shifting her focus behind the camera. In recent years, MEGUMI has emerged as one of the industry’s most compelling creative producers.
MEGUMI first decided to shift gears into producing during the Covid-19 pandemic. “I had this gut feeling that the world was about to change, and I needed to rethink the way I worked,” she explains.
“As a celebrity and an actress, all I could do was wait for offers, which were scarce at the time. Around then, I came across a report stating that Japanese women had the lowest levels of self-esteem in the world, and I thought to myself, ‘Why not take control of my own destiny and use video to empower women?’”
Date with destiny
Fujiko is, in many ways, a realisation of this dream. Directed by Taichi Kimura, the film is about a resilient single mother who fights to raise her daughter after her husband’s family kidnaps the child.
When it premiered in Udine in April, the film received a five-minute standing ovation. “I’m usually not one to cry in public, but witnessing that, I just broke down, bawling my eyes out,” she says.
“It’s been four years since I started working on Fujiko with Taichi, and during that period we changed the script at least 20 times. We are both so passionate about this film, but you do go through stages when you wonder if people will like it. So to get that reaction was amazing.
“It’s a story about the empowerment of women. Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the film reflects the gender dynamics of the time. Fujiko quietly pushes against those constraints with a steady sense of resolve. She doesn’t have grand ambitions. She simply keeps going without overthinking things. That’s something I can relate to. I believe I’m here today because, like Fujiko, I took action.”
While wrapping the film, MEGUMI was working on another project that would go on to receive international acclaim. Produced by Netflix, Badly In Love follows delinquents living together in an abandoned middle school as they navigate relationships and search for romance.
“When I started the project, my aim was to show a different side of Japan that hadn’t really been seen overseas,” she says. “There are many films about yakuza and geisha, but very few about yankii culture. I grew up as a delinquent myself and was surrounded by people who may have looked intimidating, but had charm and honour.
“I wanted to share that story with the world because I believed there would be interest. I didn’t expect it to become as successful as it did.” It has been renewed for a second season.
As her reputation for her work behind the camera grows, MEGUMI continues to earn acclaim for her acting. Once known primarily as a variety TV personality, her role in 2018 feature The Blood Of Wolves helped reshape public perception, establishing her as a versatile actress. Two years later, she received a best supporting actress award at the 62nd Blue Ribbon Awards. More recently, she was seen in This Is I, a Netflix biopic about Japanese transgender icon Ai Haruna.
Contact: info@japanese-night.org
