Cannes: ‘Onoda – 10 000 Nights In The Jungle’ to Open Un Certain Regard Section

Naman Ramachandran
·2 min read
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French filmmaker Arthur Harari’s “Onoda – 10 000 Nights In The Jungle” will open the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes’ Official Selection.

The film tells the story of soldier Hiroo Onoda who was sent to an island in the Philippines in 1944 to fight against the American forces. As Japan surrenders, Onoda ignores it, and, as he is trained to survive at all costs in the jungle, he keeps his war going. He will take 10,000 days to capitulate, refusing to believe the end of WWII.

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The cast includes Endō Yūya, Tsuda Kanji, Matsuura Yūya, Chiba Tetsuya, Katō Shinsuke, Inowaki Kai and Ogata Issei.

“Between Kon Ichikawa’s ‘Fires on the Plain,’ Josef von Sternberg’s ‘Anatahan’ and ‘They Were Expendable’ of John Ford, with lighting by Tom Harari, the director’s brother, ‘Onoda – 10 000 Nights In The Jungle’ is a staggering internal odyssey, an intimate and universal view of the world and the history,” reads the festival’s description of the film. “With this second feature film (and his first in the Cannes selection), Arthur Harari masterfully imposes his filmmaking and delivers a great film about commitment and time.”

Produced by Nicolas Anthomé, and entirely filmed in Asia, “Onoda – 10 000 Nights In The Jungle” is written by Arthur Harari and Vincent Poymiro. It will be screened July 7.

The film is a Bathysphere Productions and To Be Continued production, in coproduction with Ascent Film, Chipangu, Frakas Productions, Pandora Film Produktion, Anti-Archive, Arte France Cinéma, RAI Cinema and Proximus.

It will be distributed in France by Le Pacte, which will also handle international sales, with a French release set for July 21.

Harari’s feature debut was “Dark Inclusion” (2016), which was nominated for best first film at France’s César Awards.

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