EXCLUSIVE: There’s been much celebratory talk here at the Tokyo Film Festival about a new dawn of internationally-minded Japanese artists led by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Makoto Shinkai, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
One of the key creative voices often mentioned amongst this new Japanese set is Genki Kawamura, known internationally by audiences as the writer of If Cats Disappeared from the World, one of Japanese literature’s most successful contemporary novels, and the filmmaker who brought that book and titles such as Suzume, Weathering with You, and, most recently, Kore-eda’s Cannes prize-winning Monster to the big screen.
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Born in Yokohama in 1979, Kawamura began his career at entertainment juggernaut Toho, where he was identified early as a promising talent. He cut his teeth on pics like Tetsuya Nakashima’s 2010 feature Confessions, which was shortlisted for the Best International Feature Oscar, and Mamoru Hosoda’s The Boy and the Beast.
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He next caught heat with the 2016 anime your name., a global box office hit that grossed over 40 billion yen ($350+ million) at the box office and was awarded Best Animated Film from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Best Animated Film Award at Sitges. Kawamura is currently co-producing an English-language remake of the pic alongside J.J. Abrams for Paramount with Blindspotting filmmaker Carlos Lopez Estrada directing.
In 2017, he set up the independent production hub STORY Inc. with Yoshihiro Furusawa, and his directorial debut at the company A Hundred Flowers debuted at San Sebastian, where Kawamura became the first Japanese filmmaker to win the festival’s Silver Shell award for Best Director. Below, Kawamura speaks with Deadline about his career, Japan‘s new generation of filmmakers, current challenges in the local market, and working with Abrams on the Hollywood your name remake.
DEADLINE: Firstly, how are you? You’ve had a very busy year?
GENKI KAWAMURA: It was especially busy in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, my directorial debut which I also wrote, A Hundred Flowers, based on my novel, was selected for the Competition section at the 70th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. I won the Silver Shell for Best Director Award for the film. The film was released in many countries around the world, so I went to many film festivals and campaigns for it.
At the same time, I was producing Suzume and Monster. In 2023, Suzume premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival and was released worldwide. It grossed over 415 million dollars worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Japanese film ever at the international box office. Monster won the Best Screenplay and Queer Palme awards at the 76th Cannes International Film Festival and is currently touring festivals around the world. I am currently producing a new live-action film based on my novel April Come She Will and an original animated film with Naoko Yamada, the director of A Silent Voice, which will be released next year.
DEADLINE: As anyone who checks your filmography can see, you’re extremely prolific. How do you keep up this pace?
KAWAMURA: I am very prolific, but as my role changes by projects from novelist, screenwriter, director, and producer, I am able to maintain a fresh mind on each project. Most of my ideas come to me while I am concurrently working on multiple projects. After all the thread that connects all my work, whether it is in novels, films, or animations is “storytelling”.
DEADLINE: You’ve been at the center of what many are describing as a new golden generation of international Japanese filmmakers. Can you tell me a little about your career? How you got started and ended up here today with STORY Inc.
KAWAMURA: I am greatly inspired by the activities of Japanese filmmakers of my generation, such as Makoto Shinkai and Ryusuke Hamaguchi. I started my career as a film producer at Toho, a movie company, and while making live-action films such as Confessions and Villain, I began writing novels at the age of 30. My debut novel, If Cats Disappeared From The World was published in 28 countries and sold over 2 million copies worldwide. Around the same time, I began making original animated films such as Mirai with Mamoru Hosoda and your name. with Makoto Shinkai. In 2017, I founded a company called STORY inc. It was a small planning and production company consisting of twelve creative producers. The core members were the same people who worked together on your name. I started the company to work closely with directors, screenwriters, and original authors, and to create films with an emphasis on ‘STORY’-telling.
Since then, we have made Weathering With You and Suzume with Makoto Shinkai, and The Makanai with Hirokazu Kore-eda. We are also working on an original animation film with Naoko Yamada, director of A Silent Voice, which will be released next year.
DEADLINE: International readers perhaps first became aware of you from the success of Your Name. Did you expect that film to be so beloved? And what exactly do you think helps Japanese films travel well?
KAWAMURA: I think three elements established a new standard for Japanese animation features that became widely accepted: Makoto Shinkai’s visual sense, the strong story created by the good team, and the music that collaborated with Radwimps. My mission is to propose a story and visuals that use complex layers of sensitivity that is unique to the Japanese. I believe that we, the Japanese, have the ability to invent one-of-a-kind stories and characters. Here is another reason why I chose Story as the name of my company.
DEADLINE: ‘Blindspotting‘ filmmaker Carlos Lopez Estrada is currently adapting Your Name. How’s that process going? How involved are you? And how is the experience of working with Hollywood studios?
KAWAMURA: I am currently working on the script with Carlos Lopez Estrada, director of Raya and the Last Dragon, along with Bad Robot and JJ Abrams. I am involved in this project as a producer. The progress is slow because of the pandemic and now, all the strikes, but it is moving forward steadily. I am participating as a “storyteller” as I always do, whether it is in Japan or in the U.S.
DEADLINE: You produced Kore-eda’s last film Monster. How did that come about? And how would you describe the experience?
KAWAMURA: I was developing an original story with screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto. We came up with a very good story, so we took it to director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Children play a very important role in this story, and I wanted to ask a director who excels in directing children. As a person whose job is “storytelling,” I was very honored and overjoyed to receive the Best Screenplay Award and the Queer Palme Award at the Cannes Film Festival for this film.
DEADLINE: You’ve traveled to international festivals with Suzume, Monster, and Weathering with You. How important do you think the European festival circuit is to Asian and specifically, Japanese films?
KAWAMURA: I have been touring film festivals from last year to this year and realized that film festivals and awards are very effective in bringing Japanese films to the international market.
DEADLINE: What are the current challenges in the Japanese market?
KAWAMURA: I feel that more diverse talent should emerge, and more diverse films should be made.
DEADLINE: What’s next for you?
KAWAMURA: My novel A Hundred Flowers has already been published in Asian countries, France, and Italy, but it will finally be published in the US and UK next year. In addition, I am now working on a new novel. It is the story of a horse and a woman. It will be published next year. Also, I am producing a live-action movie April Come She Will based on my novel, and an animation movie with an original story by Naoko Yamada, the director of A Silent Voice, which will be released next year.