“Sidonie in Japan” will travel far and wide, as international agent Indie Sales has posted a raft of new sales out of Rome’s MIA Market. Starring Isabelle Huppert and directed by Elise Girard, the wistful romance world premiered out of Venice’s independent, auteur-oriented sidebar Venice Days last month.
The Paris-based sales company has altogether secured distribution deals for Australia/New Zealand (Sharmill Films), the Baltics (Next Episode SL), Brazil (Imovision), the CIS (Arthouse), Germany (Majestic), Italy (Academy 2), India and subcontinent (BookMyShow), Spain (Surtsey) and Switzerland (Outside the Box), while negotiations are still ongoing with partners in Belgium and China. Gallic distributor Art House will handle the film’s domestic release early next year.
Led by Huppert and co-starring August Diehl (“A Hidden Life,” “Inglourious Basterds”) and Tsuyoshi Ihara (“Letters from Iwo Jima”) the bittersweet film follows a widowed French author who accepts an invitation to Kyoto, only to find her husband’s ghost waiting for her there. As she explores the city’s shrines and natural wonders with a local suitor, Sidonie must let go of those ghosts in order to blossom again.
Reviewing out of Venice, Variety’s Guy Lodge called the film “gentle and empathetic,” while praising Girard’s willingness to “[pause the] storytelling to take in the scenery, the breeze, the interior hum of a luxury car in mild traffic or, with a nod to the touristic inevitability of the image, the cotton-candy blur of cherry blossom from a train window.”
Sébastien Haguenauer produced through his Paris-based outfit 10:15! Productions, with Germany’s Lupa Films, Japan’s Fourier Films and Switzerland’s Box Productions serving as co-production partners.