![\"MEGUMI](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1478983_megumi6_japanesenight2025_550847.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Japanese actress, creator and producer\u00a0MEGUMI is back in Cannes to once again host the festival\u2019s biggest private party. Since 2024, Japanese Night has drawn around 1,000 attendees to the talent showcase, connecting creators from Japan with the international film community and sparking fresh projects while deepening relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about bringing cultures together through film,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u00a0believe that is the true mission of\u00a0cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n
MEGUMI\u00a0arrives fresh from Udine\u2019s Far East Film Festival, where her latest feature as a producer,\u00a0Fujiko, won both the Golden Mulberry audience award and the Black Dragon critics prize \u2014 the first Japanese film to achieve this feat.<\/p>\n
She has also signed a multi-year exclusive partnership with Netflix to produce multiple unscripted series. Debut project,\u00a0Badly In Love, is a reality dating show focused on Japanese\u00a0yankii\u00a0(rebellious) subculture. It became a major hit when it launched last year, topping Japanese charts for four consecutive weeks and achieving global success.<\/p>\n
Few entertainers in Japan have navigated reinvention quite as deftly as MEGUMI, who was an aspiring singer as a teen before gaining recognition as a defining face of the \u201cHeisei gravure\u201d boom, becoming a ubiquitous presence on television. She later returned to music before launching her own businesses and established herself as a versatile actress, before gradually shifting her focus behind the camera. In recent years,\u00a0MEGUMI has emerged as one of the industry\u2019s most compelling creative producers.<\/p>\n
MEGUMI\u00a0first decided to shift gears into producing during the Covid-19 pandemic. \u201cI had this gut feeling that the world was about to change, and I needed to rethink the way I worked,\u201d she explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a celebrity and an actress, all I could do was wait for offers, which were scarce at the time. Around then, I came across a report stating that Japanese women had the lowest levels of self-esteem in the world, and I thought to myself, \u2018Why not take control of my own destiny and use video to empower women?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Date with destiny<\/p>\n
![\"'Fujiko'\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1478984_megum5_fujikoproducer_216219.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Fujiko\u00a0is, in many ways, a realisation of this dream. Directed by Taichi Kimura, the film is about a resilient single mother who fights to raise her daughter after her husband\u2019s family kidnaps the child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When it premiered in Udine in April, the film received a five-minute standing ovation. \u201cI\u2019m usually not one to cry in public, but witnessing that, I just broke down, bawling my eyes out,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been four years since I started working on\u00a0Fujiko\u00a0with Taichi, and during that period we changed the script at least 20 times. We are both so passionate about this film, but you do go through stages when you wonder if people will like it. So to get that reaction was amazing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a story about the empowerment of women. Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the film reflects the gender dynamics of the time. Fujiko quietly pushes against those constraints with a steady sense of resolve. She doesn\u2019t have grand ambitions. She simply keeps going without overthinking things. That\u2019s something I can relate to. I believe I\u2019m here today because, like Fujiko, I\u00a0took action.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Japanese](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1478985_megumi_japanesenight20252_338386.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
While wrapping the film,\u00a0MEGUMI was working on another project that would go on to receive international acclaim. Produced by Netflix,\u00a0Badly In Love\u00a0follows delinquents living together in an abandoned middle school as they navigate relationships and search for romance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started the project, my aim was to show a different side of Japan that hadn\u2019t really been seen overseas,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are many films about yakuza and geisha, but very few about\u00a0yankii\u00a0culture. I grew up as a delinquent myself and was surrounded by people who may have looked intimidating, but had charm and honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to share that story with the world because I believed there would be interest. I didn\u2019t expect it to become as successful as it did.\u201d It has been renewed for a second season.<\/p>\n
As her reputation for her work behind the camera grows,\u00a0MEGUMI continues to earn acclaim for her acting. Once known primarily as a variety TV personality, her role in 2018 feature\u00a0The Blood Of Wolves\u00a0helped reshape public perception, establishing her as a versatile actress. Two years later, she received a best supporting actress award at the 62nd Blue Ribbon Awards. More recently, she was seen in\u00a0This Is I, a Netflix biopic about Japanese transgender icon Ai Haruna.\u00a0<\/p>\n