Korean sales company Finecut has acquired international sales rights to Japanese horror-thriller “Wash Away,” which it will represent at the European Film Market in Berlin.
The thriller centers on two vacationers who receive a free stay at an isolated lakeside getaway, where they encounter sinister forces tied to local folklore about water’s ability to cleanse the soul. First-time feature director Takuya Miyahara uses the premise to examine Japan’s so-called Satori Generation – young people grappling with defeatism amid the country’s economic decline and demographic challenges. The film probes how despair can drive individuals toward dangerous forms of denial and disengagement from reality.
Miyahara previously directed short “Suck,” which competed at the 46th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Following his studies at ENBU Seminar’s directing program, he honed his craft through the Sundance Institute/NHK Award screenwriting initiative and attended specialized workshops in Los Angeles and New York.
The cast features Jingi Irie, known for “Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween – Destiny,” as a withdrawn vacationer who grows suspicious of the resort’s atmosphere. Makoto Tanaka of “Michikusa” portrays his partner, who becomes increasingly distant as dark revelations emerge.
Production company Nothing New is presenting the project. The outfit’s “AnyMart” selected for this year’s Berlinale Forum section. Nothing New’s recent slate includes “Happy Eyescream” and “Diary of the Ghost,” both of which screened in International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Short & Mid-length program this year, plus “Void,” a Tiger Competition entry at Rotterdam’s 53rd edition.
“Wash Away” is in post-production, with Finecut planning to screen early footage for buyers during the European Film Market.
Finecut’s Berlin lineup also includes “The Day She Returns,” Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo’s latest work, which is in this year’s Berlinale Panorama section. The company’s European Film Market slate features “Long Long Night,” a 3D animation based on a Korean novel about an isolated rhinoceros who befriends a penguin hatched from a discarded egg, embarking on an emotional trek to the sea; “Tristes Tropiques,” an action-noir from genre specialist Park Hoon-jung; and “Time of Cinema,” an omnibus that played Busan International Film Festival’s Panorama last year, examining the relationship between filmmakers, audiences and the medium itself.