‘Look Back,’ Director Hirokazu Kore-eda
With its Japan release date set for Sept. 11, in the middle of Venice Fest, Look Back could give perennial Japanese festival favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda his second high profile European premiere this year.
It was completed not long after his speculative soft-sci-fi Sheep in the Box, which competed at Cannes Fest to poor reviews in May.
Look Back is the first live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s beloved manga, a coming-of-age story about two girls chasing their dreams of becoming manga artists.
Produced by start-up label K2 Pictures, Look Back was shot in Japan’s northern Nikaho City.
Natsuki Deguchi is starring as the cocky Fujino and Aju Makita as her reclusive classmate Kyomoto.
Kore-eda wrote, directed and edited the feature.
GKIDS has already snapped up U.S., U.K. and Irish rights, while Goodfellas is selling it elsewhere outside Asia.
Kore-eda’s feature debut Maborosi bowed Venice Film Fest in 1995.
