K2 Pictures Seeks to Break Japan’s Production Committee System of Conservative Filmmaking
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kii Muneyuki, a former head of production at Japan’s Toei, is launching K2 Pictures, a company that aims to upend Japanese filmmaking practices.
Its debut slate, with films by Kore-eda Hirokazu, Iwai Shunji and Nishikawa Miwa, will be unveiled in Cannes next week. A key part of the new company’s strategy is the establishment of a film fund, K2P Film Fund I, that will invest in live action and animations productions.
It aims to attract investors from Japan, other parts of Asia and the U.S. The company explains that “most Japanese films today are made under a system found only in this country of ‘production committees’ formed by such organizations as film companies, TV stations, and publishers.
Funding under this system comes only from sources with film-related know-how, making entry difficult and limiting returns to both producers and creators.” Production committees are notorious for their risk-averse conservative choices and decision making that is both slow and opaque.
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