EXCLUSIVE: K\u00f4ji Fukada makes his Cannes Competition debut this month with Nagi Notes and Deadline can reveal a first clip.<\/p>\n
The film, which will kick off the competition screenings on the first Wednesday, stars Takako Matsu as Yoriko, an artist living in rural Nagi, nursing the wounds of a failed love affair she cannot bear to mourn.<\/p>\n
More from Deadline<\/p>\n
Friend and former sister-in-law Yuri (Shizuka Ishibashi) travels from Tokyo to visit. Like Yoriko, the recently separated architect is at a crossroads in her life. Yuri\u2019s brief escape from the city settles into a quiet confrontation of loss and probing for the two women in bucolic Nagi.<\/p>\n
Fukada says \u201cthe initial spark\u201d for the film was the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art (Nagi MOCA) in Japan\u2019s southern Okayama Prefecture which is known for its rural landscapes and lifestyles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was first drawn to the idea of filming a story where diverse people intersect within that architecture designed by Arata Isozaki, a structure that stands out in the peaceful landscape like a sudden estrangement effect (Verfremdungseffekt),\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cGradually, my interest expanded \u2018outside\u2019 the museum walls. As I engaged with the local community over eight years of field research, I encountered various motifs: the contrast between urban and rural life, the tension between art and daily existence, and the deep-seated structures of patriarchy and gender.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, however, I found myself returning to a theme central to my work: the problem of human solitude. While cinema often demands unique or grand conflicts, I believe the mere acts of being born and dying are, in themselves, profound conflicts and mysteries. Truly, there is no greater reason to make a film than to simply turn the camera toward those fundamental truths.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fukada was first in Cannes Official Selection in 2016 with Harmonium which played in Un Certain Regard and won the strand\u2019s Jury Prize.<\/p>\n
His 2020 film The Real Thing was a recipient of the festival\u2019s Covid-19 label which was introduced after it was cancelled due to the pandemic, while he first returned physically to the festival in 2025 with Love on Trial which played in Cannes Premiere.<\/p>\n
Mk2 films handles sales on new film Nagi Notes.<\/p>\n
Best of Deadline<\/p>\n
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