The film ‘Desert of Namibia’ scheduled for release in Japan in 2024, had its world premiere at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival in France on Friday, May 17 (local time).
The film was selected for the “Directors’ Week,” an initiative to choose outstanding directors from the perspective of directors themselves. Following the official screening at the main venue, “Theatre Croisette,” director Yoko Yamanaka, lead actor Yuumi Kawai, Daichi Kaneko, and Kanichiro, along with cinematographer Shin Yonekura, took the stage for the official screening greeting.
In his greeting before the world premiere screening, Kawai told the 800 seats filled to capacity in fluent English, “I have been looking forward to today. Please enjoy the film. Yamanaka appealed to the audience before the screening, saying, “This is a film full of energy made by a young team, so I hope you will relax and watch it freely”.
During the screening that followed, the five of them sat in the audience and watched the film. When the applause echoed from the audience at the end roll, the five stood up, looked around at the audience, and responded with smiles to the audience’s reaction. Comments from Kawai, Kaneko, and Kanichiro after the premiere screening have also arrived.
<Yuumi Kawai comment>
During the screening, I was relaxed, observing everyone’s reactions, but after it ended, my heart started pounding, and I think I was excited. I was really happy. I received a lot of applause and people shared their impressions with me directly, and I thought it was really good that I could come. I realized that I came to Cannes to hear the feedback and cheers from the audience after all.<Daichi Kaneko Comment>
I’m tired [laughs]. I was happy. The reactions were good too, and I had a valuable experience. I was nervous the whole time, it was kind of scary [laughs].<kanichiro’s comment>
It was wonderful. I think it was a very good screening. I was watching the film with the audience, and I was relieved to see that everyone laughed at some parts that were different from our sense of values, and at other parts that we thought would definitely make them laugh. I was relieved to hear that everyone liked the film so much after it was over.
This is the first full-length feature film by Yaoko Yamanaka, who won the Audience Award at the PFF Awards 2017 for “Amiko,” which she shot and directed for the first time at the young age of 19 and was highly acclaimed. Kawai plays the lead role for the first time in the film. She was inspired to become an actress after seeing “Amiko” when she was a student, and went directly to Director Yamanaka to tell him that she would like to act in the film someday.
Desert of Namibia
Scheduled for release in 2024
Director/Screenplay: Yoko Yamanaka
Cast: Yumi Kawai, Daichi Kaneko, Kanichiro, Yuzumi Shintani, Ayumi Nakajima, Erika Karata, Ayaka Shibutani, Asami Shibuya, Moe Kurata, Ku Ishima, Keisuke Horibe, Makiko Watanabe
Producers: Keisuke Konishi, Shinji Ogawa, Masashi Yamada, Tokuji Suzuki
Production: Bridgehead, Cogito Works
Production Manager/Distribution: Happinet Phantom Studio
Production: “The Namibian Desert” Production Committee
©2024 “The Desert of Namibia” Production Committee
Official website: happinet-phantom.com/namibia-movie
Official X (former Twitter): @namibia_movie
