Keanu Reeves joined the Japanese stop-motion film “Hidari” after watching the project’s pilot, director Kawamura Masashi said at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and his team got back to the filmmakers to arrange a Zoom call about a week after the release was set, and also updated the film’s fundraising campaign.
Kawamura, who created, wrote and directed “Hidari,” attended a session with co-director Ogawa Iku reporting on Film Frontier, a talent development program supported by the Japan Cultural Affairs Agency and run by festival organizer UniJapan. The program covered the costs of the team’s travel to markets and industry events.
Reeves’ casting as the lead voice was announced at Cannes in May, but Kawamura said the actor saw the pilot before the festival.
“We were very influenced by Kurosawa’s films, so when the puppet was being made, I wanted Mifune Toshiro and Keanu Reeves to be collected, cut in half, and then aged,” Kawamura said.
From then on, Kawamura kept Reeves at the top of his list as the lead voice. The producers of the film took this seriously, found a way to reach the actor and get him to watch the pilot.
“About a week later we heard back and said, ‘Okay, let’s Zoom,’” Kawamura said. “I was thinking, things move so fast these days. Then we called and there was Keanu on the other end.”
“Hidari” also caught the attention of “RRR” director SS Rajamouli. Kawamura said he met the Indian filmmaker in Annecy, showed him “Hidari” and ended up having a conversation that lasted about 30 minutes about how the film was made.
“‘You’re amazing. How did you do that?’ ” he said,” Kawamura said.
Kawamura said that such an encounter with a director whose paths he would normally rarely cross could only happen at a festival. “There’s a surprise inside the cinema, and there are connections after you come out,” he said.
The team shot the proof-of-concept short film about three years ago, paid for it themselves with the help of crowdfunding, and posted it on YouTube. It has since garnered nearly 5.3 million views and nearly 120,000 followers, according to Kawamura; Most of them are abroad.
“Wood carving, stop-motion and a period drama; it’s a very simple project,” he said. “If we had just put this out in a written proposal, I don’t think anyone would have understood it.”
With support from Film Frontier, the filmmakers staged “Hidari” carrying one of the hand-carved puppets at the Annecy Animation Showcase, part of the Cannes Film Market. Kawamura said puppetry attracted a larger audience than its makers, and the Cannes platform put the film in front of live-action and action fans, as well as distributors and agents.
“Stop motion is a really small world, and people tend to assume it’s a narrow market,” Kawamura said. “But even though it’s stop-motion, we think of it as an action movie.”
Kawamura said that the budget is large and the team still has not sold the project and is looking for grants and partnerships with overseas distributors. “We’re turning it into an indie style in terms of speed,” he added. “I think the project managed to cross thin ice thanks to our light feet.”
Earlier this month in Busan, Dwarf Studios producer Matsumoto Noriko said talks had stalled with a US company that had offered to fully finance the project in exchange for full rights.
Ogawa, who works at stop motion house Dwarf Studios, attended Annecy this year. The technique remains a niche in commercial film and TV animation, he said, but festival shorts and student sections are full of it, and studios from Europe, North America and beyond are converging on Annecy. “When I took the puppet with me, it was pretty popular,” he said. “It was fun.”
Film Frontier, now in its third year, is part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs Creative Support Fund, which supports creators for approximately three years, from project development to international rollout.