EXCLUSIVE:U.S. indie Spacemaker Productions and its Japanese subsidiary Barravento have forged a partnership with leading anime studio Genco as they continue to build bridges between the U.S. and Japanese film industries.
Spacemaker and Barravento – the Tokyo-based subsidiary that Spacemaker founded in collaboration with producer Hiroto Ogi (Drops Of God, Titanic Ocean) – recently launched their first project, Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Vintage Violence, which received its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival.
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Tokyo-based Genco is the anime planning and production company behind acclaimed titles such as Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actressand Tokyo Godfathers; Sunao Katabuchi’s In This Corner Of The World, and Netflix series Pluto.
Together, the companies are exploring international co-productions backed by U.S. financing, as well as live-action adaptations of Japanesefor the U.S. market
World premiering in TIFF’s Midnight Madness section, Vintage Violence stars Cole Sprouse and Kiko Mizuhara in the story of a disgraced livestreamer who discovers a trove of rare vintage denim in a Colorado mine, following it to Tokyo – and straight into the arms of a woman who may be using him. Caught between desire and betrayal, he soon finds himself entangled in black-market turf wars, yakuza, and a past that refuses to stay buried.
WME is handling US domestic sales for the film, with Best Friend Forever overseeing international rights. The film received the location attraction tax rebate offered by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and administered by the Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO).
Spacemaker Production’s founder, Alex Hughes, said: “Spacemaker has long admired Japanese cinema and has developed projects in Japan for some time. Making Japan our principal hub for Asian production is a natural evolution of that work and we are pleased to be expanding Barravento in partnership with Hiroto. His depth of experience in international production is uncommon – he understands how films are financed and executed on both sides of the Pacific, and that understanding is precisely what foreign productions shooting in Japan most often require.”
Riccardo Maddalosso, President of Spacemaker Productions, said: “Japan is also highly competitive on cost, with a consistently high standard of crew. Taken together, we believe that represents one of the strongest production propositions in today’s market.”
Hiroto Ogi added: “We are thrilled to partner with Genco, a company behind some of Japan’s most distinctive and original works, and are confident that this new chapter of international collaboration will be an incredibly exciting journey.
“Japanese films and series are finding audiences around the world, so the way we make them should become more open and international too. Filmmakers from abroad can bring perspectives to Japan that we might not see from the inside, while Japan has extraordinary talent that deserves to be discovered beyond its borders. Barravento is about creating those encounters and seeing where they lead. For me, that sense of discovery is what makes filmmaking exciting.”
In addition to its partnership with Genco, Barravento also focuses on local productions in Japan, as well as providing production services to foreign productions seeking guidance in navigating Japan’s incentive system, and covering all aspects of production.
The company’s services also include helping foreign productions access Japanese IP for development and adaptation. Among Barravento’s additional projects in development is an English-language remake of Kaneto Shindo’s cult horror classic Onibaba.
Spacemaker’s credits include How to Blow Up A Pipeline by Daniel Goldhaber, starring Ariela Barer, Sasha Lane and Lukas Gage, which premiered at TIFF 2022; Oscar Boyson’s Our Hero, Balthazarstarring Jaeden Martell and Asa Butterfield; Sebastain Silva’s Rotting In The Sun, starring Jordan Firstman, and the recently announced The Lonely Woman, directed by Boy Harsher and starring Chloë Sevigny, FKA Twigs, Sturgill Simpson and Will Oldham.
