Fukada Koji

FUKADA Koji (1980, Japan) began making independent films as a student. His first work to achieve international recognition was Hospitalité in 2010. In 2016, he won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard Cannes International Film Festival for Harmonium. He has made films constantly since then, and was awarded the Order of the Chevalier in France in 2018 for his work. His film version of his original TV series The Real Thing was officially selected at Cannes in 2020. Apart from working as a director, he is active as an activist and advocate for Japanese Independent Cinema. He was one of the founders of the Japanese Independent Film Guild (Eiga Nabe). With director Hamaguchi Ryusuke, he ran a crowdfunding campaign to help independent film theatres survive the Covid pandemic.

Filmography

The Chair (2004), La grenadière (2006, short), Tokyo ningen kigeki/Human Comedy in Tokyo (2009), Kantai/Hospitalité (2010), Hotori no sakuko/Au revoir l'été (2013), Inabe (2013, short), Sayonara (2015), Fuchi ni tatsu/Harmonium (2016), Tori (kari)/Birds (2016), Umi wo kakeru/The Man from the Sea (2018), Yokogao/A Girl Missing (2019), The Real Thing (2020)

Fukada Koji at IFFR

Love on Trial

An idol singer falls in love with a friend from secondary school. Despite her effort to keep their relationship secret, it gets exposed and her management sues them both for the breach of "no boys" contractual clause. Should she fight for her dignity or choose to settle for a peaceful life?

Fukada Koji