Ryuichi HIROKI
Kazuya SHIRAISHI 白石和彌
Shuichi OKITA 沖田修一
Shinji KUMA
Yasunori MOURI
Hibana
火花
Nippon Cinema ª
Tokunaga is an aspiring comedian who becomes the apprentice of veteran Kamiya. But while Tokunaga rises to fame, Kamiya starts to lose his shine. Ryuichi HIROKI served as main director for the adaptation of Naoki MATAYOSHI’s bestselling novel – the first Japanese Netflix series, presented at NIPPON CONNECTION as a world premiere prior to its official release.
Episodes 1-10, 530 min.
Related Events:
Hibana (NC 2016)
火花
Japan 2016
Director
Ryuichi HIROKI, Kazuya SHIRAISHI, Shuichi OKITA, Shinji KUMA, Yasunori MOURI
Script
Masato KATO, Miyuki TAKAHASHI, Yuiko KATO based on a novel by Naoki MATAYOSHI
Cinematography
Atsuhiro NABESHIMA
Production
Thefool, Pipeline, Yoshimoto Kogyo, YD Creation
World sales
Netflix
Cast
Kento HAYASHI, Kazuki NAMIOKA, Mugi KADOWAKI, Shota SOMETANI, Tomorowo TAGUCHI
About Ryuichi HIROKI
Born in Fukushima prefecture in 1954, Ryuichi HIROKI is a highly productive filmmaker who learned his trade in pink films before making his own debut with SEIGYAKU! in 1982. Receiving a number of awards, he had his breakthrough in 2003 with VIBRATOR. He is a regular guest at the NIPPON CONNECTION film festival.
About Kazuya SHIRAISHI
白石和彌
Kazuya SHIRAISHI, born in Hokkaido Prefecture in 1974, worked as an assistant director for Koji WAKAMATSU, Isao YUKISADA and Isshin INUDO. LOST PARADISE IN TOKYO (2010) was his directorial debut. His films have been shown at the most important international film festivals and have won numerous awards. The Nippon Connection Film Festival has screened many of his films, such as BIRDS WITHOUT NAMES (2017 / NC ’18), THE BLOOD OF WOLVES (2018 / NC ’19), DARE TO STOP US (2018 / NC ’19) and LAST OF THE WOLVES (2021 / NC ’22).
About Shuichi OKITA
沖田修一
Shuichi OKITA was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1977 and studied at Nihon University College of Art. He made his directorial debut with WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD in 2006. His comedy THE WOODSMAN AND THE RAIN (2011) won the Jury Prize at the 2011 Tokyo International Film Festival, as well as the NIPPON CINEMA AWARD at the 2012 NIPPON CONNECTION Film Festival.
About Shinji KUMA
About Yasunori MOURI