Leading Japanese independent company Gaga Corporation is releasing the thriller “#Manhole” next week in Cannes.
Directed by Kumakiri Kazuyoshi (“My Man”, “Sketches of Kaitan City”), from a screenplay by Okada Michitaka (“Masquerade Hotel”), the film depicts a promising young man, with everything going in his favour, who falls to the bottom of a deep hatch on the eve of his wedding.
Imagining all kinds of horror, the beleaguered groom uses his smartphone to communicate with friends, police and social media. But his predicament is getting worse. It is not certain that he made it to the altar in time.
Production has just begun, and the cast has yet to be revealed. Gaga will guarantee a local release in Japan at a time that has yet to be finalized. The company also owns all global rights and will begin licensing the image in Cannes Market, the rights sales arm of the Cannes Film Festival.
Kumakiri has a track record as an independent maker, but he’s been slow and hasn’t made a feature film in more than five years. His 1998 graduation work “Kichiku dai enkai” premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlin Festival. “Sketches of Kaitan City” in 2010 won the Grand Prix and Best Actor Award at the Cinemanila International Film Festival and the Jury Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival. His movie “My Man” won two Golden St. George and Best Actor at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2014.
Okada is a successful filmmaker who excels in screenplays with strong logical themes and has succeeded in films and TV dramas. After debuting “Liar Game” in 2010, which also featured games he designed, Okada went on to create Asian singles “Masquerade Hotel” in 2019 and “Masquerade Night” in 2021. He was also behind Fuji Television’s Nobunaga concerto” in both years 2014 and 2018 Netflix mini-series “Switched”.
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