Fishing for the Meaning of Life; Naomi Kawase is Readying “Still The Water” for 2014

After serving as a Cannes Jury member back in May, Naomi Kawase (her most recent directing gigs include The Mourning Forest and Hanezu) is going to begin lensing her next feature film this fall. Variety reports that Japanese helmer’s Still the Water will be repped by MK2, the French prod-distrib-sales co. as acquired international sales rights to what is being pegged as a drama, which once again involves a form of teamwork between members of the opposite gender. France’s Commes des Cinemas is producing with Japan’s Kumie Inc.. Arte France Cinema and Eddie Saeta are co-producing. Seeing she is a long-standing VIP member in Cannes, a 2014 berth for the project is a given, with a Main Comp slot or least likely, the Un Certain Regard showing the most likely scenario.

Gist: From the mouths of MK2, this takes place during the full-moon night of traditional dances in August and set on the Japanese island of Amami-Oshima, and centers on a 14-year old boy who finds a dead body floating in the sea. The young man enlists the help of his girlfriend to solve the mystery. The pair “will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.”

Worth Noting: He debut film Suzaku won the Camera d’Or in 1997 (prize attributed to Best First Feature in all sections in Cannes).

Do We Care?: Since she began filmmaking, Kawase has been moving between fiction and docu formats – we’re hoping for her meditative, exploratory style of filmmaking to match well with younger protagonists.

A sales and exhibition company, MK2 will have Xavier Dolan’s psychological thriller “Tom at The Farm” and Bruce Labruce’s off-beat romantic tale “Gerontophilia” playing at Venice and Toronto.