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Tokyo Gap Financing Market Reveals Selected Film Projects Including Animated Film by Ayumu Watanabe, Live-Action Adaptation of Staring at your back Manga
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
The official website of the Tokyo International Film Festival Content Market (TIFFCOM) announced the 23 selected film projects for its Tokyo Gap-Financing Market event, which helps complete financing for feature-length film projects, on Thursday. The selection includes a feature animated film titled Freedom in the Sky directed by Ayumu Watanabe (several Doraemon films, Children of the Sea, Space Brothers #0 films) with production by Genco, Inc., and a live-action feature film co-production between South Korea and Japan titled Staring at Your Back, which is adapted from a Japanese manga (the announcement did not confirm the manga title and its author). The selection also includes director Kazuaki Kuribayashi and CHOCOLATE Inc.'s KILLTUBE anime film.
The Staring at Your Back film will be directed by Korean director Kun-jae Jang, and will be produced by Mocushura Inc.. Mocushura Inc.'s website is listing the film as "in development," and states the film is based on Kuro Nohara's Staring at your back (Kimi no Senaka) manga.
Akata describes the manga's story:
Takeru Inomata is a high school student who lives in a small provincial town. The unspoken, the rumors, the marriage, the children ... That's all over him. He lives his daily life, as it comes, without making waves and without passion. Until the day when, in high school, a new student arrives ... He will be very surprised when he discovers that the latter is none other than Kôtarô, one of his comrades in primary school. Very quickly, the two boys get closer ... What if a new love was being born?
Watanabe is known for directing several Doraemon films including Doraemon: Boku no Umareta Hi, Doraemon: Doraemon Comes Back, Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006, and Doraemon: Obāchan no Omoide, among others. Watanabe is directing the upcoming television anime titles Witch Hat Atelier, Akane-banashi, and Ganglion.
Japanese company CHOCOLATE Inc. (live-action film Mondays: See You "This" Week!, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba's Total Concentration exhibition, production and publicity for Dark Gathering anime) announced its plan to produce KILLTUBE in April 2024. The company is targeting the 90-minute film for spring 2026, with plans for a worldwide release. Studio Dotou screened the world premiere of a scene from KILLTUBE during Anime Expo in July.
TIFFCOM will hold the 6th Tokyo Gap-Financing Market event from October 29-31 at Tokyo Portcity Takeshiba. This year's selection features a total of 17 live-action and six animation film projects from Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and Spain among other countries, and three co-production projects between Japan and Italy.
