Producer Yamamoto Teruhisa, best known for the Oscar-winning “Drive My Car,” is throwing his weight behind “White Flowers and Fruits,” the debut feature from emerging Japanese director Sakamoto Yukari.
The film is selected for the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with Hong Kong FilMart.
The Japanese-language drama, currently seeking additional funding and festival screenings, explores the aftermath of a suicide at a Christian girls’ boarding school. The story follows Anna, an outcast who discovers her deceased roommate’s diary and encounters a ghostly flame embodying her spirit. After consuming the flame, Anna gains extraordinary dance abilities and begins unraveling the mystery behind her friend’s death.
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“What particularly intrigued me about this project was how the script places the protagonist at the center, allowing the film to effortlessly transition between horror and coming-of-age genres,” Yamamoto explained. “Despite these shifts, it consistently portrays the human desire to connect with and understand others.”
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Sakamoto, who studied philosophy at Sophia University before pursuing film editing at Tokyo University of the Arts, has previously directed several shorts, including “Reborn” in the omnibus film “21st Century Girl” (2019) and “The Tree” (2022), which won the Art Renaissance Award at Tokyo Geidai Artfes.
The filmmaker drew inspiration from Japanese folklore, particularly the concept of souls returning as floating, flame-like spirits. “When I was a child, my mother told me, ‘I wish my father would come back, even as a ghost,'” Sakamoto shared. “For her, the dead were not something to fear, but something to be remembered and cherished.”
Sakamoto also cited teenage suicide as a motivating factor for the project: “When people talk about it, most just say, ‘Poor them,’ to satisfy their superficial curiosity. People try to understand the cause of suicide as if it were just a piece of gossip.”
With an estimated budget of 30 million yen (approximately US$221,000), the production team has raised three-quarters of their ideal 40 million yen target. The project is being produced by Bitters End, Inc. and Chiaroscuro Co., Ltd., with plans to expand beyond Asia into European markets.
“I especially want young people who feel pressured by society to conform to a standardized way of life and struggle with a sense of discomfort or alienation to watch this film,” Yamamoto noted about the target audience.
Yamamoto’s producing credits include “Drive My Car” (2021), which won best screenplay at Cannes and best international feature at the Academy Awards, along with “Birds Without Names” (2017), “Asako I & II” (2018), and “Wife of a Spy” (2020). After leaving C&I Entertainment, he joined Walt Disney Company (Japan), where he has produced “Lost Man Found” (2022), “Because We Forget Everything” (2022), and “Gannibal” (2022).
