Japanese Drama ‘Who Were We?’ Sells Across East Asia

The Japanese romantic fantasy film Who Were We?, which recently competed at the Tokyo International Film Festival, has locked down several key sales in East Asia. Happinet Phantom Studios and Tetsuya To Mina Film will co-distribute the title at home in Japan, while Seoul-based Andamiro Films has taken all rights for South Korea and mainland China rights have gone to Beijing Jungle Jim Culture Media.

The second feature from rising Japanese indie director Tetsuya Tomina, Who Were We? is a metaphysical love story that follows a man and a woman — played by the in-demand Japanese stars Ryuhei Matsuda and Nana Komatsu, respectively — who find themselves on the premises of an ancient gold mine on Japan’s remote Sado Island with no memory of how they got there or who they are.

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Komatsu, also a popular fashion model in Japan, is best known internationally for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s Silence, while Matsuda has appeared in dozens of films but made his career breakthrough at the age of just 15 in Nagisa Ōshima’s Taboo (1999). Tomina’s feature debut Blue Wind Blows played in Berlinale’s Generation section in 2018.

The recently established Beijing-based banner Monar Films, headed by industry veteran Yiran Song, is handling all sales on the title outside of Japan. Monar Film is the international sales rep for HKIFF Collection, which sits under the umbrella of the Hong Kong International Film Festival’s HKIFF Industry program. The label was launched to support independent titles at festivals and to help them receive international distribution. Previous titles in its catalog include Sakahara Atsushi’s Me And The Cult Leader, Tan Chui Mui’s Barbarian Invasion and Stonewalling by Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka. Monar Films is close to several additional territory deals in Asia for Who Are We?

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