Leading Japanese auteur director, Naomi Kawase has begun production on her latest film, “Asa ga Kuru” (translation: Comes Morning). It is based on a 2015 novel by Mizuki Tsujimura about a woman who adopts a child, but is contacted by its birth mother out of the blue.
Principal photography began on April 16 at six locations around Japan, including the Tokyo Bay area, Yokohama, Hiroshima and Kawase’s native Nara Prefecture. But the cast will only be revealed at a later date.
Shooting is scheduled to wrap in early June. The film is set for a 2020 release.
“The talent of Mizuki Tsujimura, who created the world of ‘Asa ga Kuru,’ makes me jealous,” said Kawase in a statement. “I’m overjoyed that I can turn this story into a film.” Tsujimura’s fiction has been the source of several films and drama series, including an eight-episode series based on “Asa ga Kuru” that Fuji TV and Tokai TV broadcast in 2016.
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Kawase won a Camera d’Or for her 1997 feature debut “Suzaku” and a Jury Prize for her 2007 drama “Mourning Forest.” In total she has had eight films selected for Cannes. Kawase’s most recent full-length film, the 2018 “Vision” starring Juliette Binoche and frequent collaborator Masatoshi Nagase, screened at San Sebastian last year.