Our Partners
Shunji Iwai
Love Letter, the first feature-length film he directed, was a massive hit in South Korea and China, as well as in Japan. His overseas activities have also included collaborations in the U.S. and Canada, and production in China.
K2 Pictures CEO Muneyuki Kii served as producer on The Murder Case of Hana & Alice, A Bride for Rip Van Winkle, and Kyrie, and the two have several new titles in development.
Filmography (Partial Title List)
Kyrie (2023/Director, Story, Writer, Editor)
Hana and Alice (2004/Director, Producer, Story, Writer, Editor, Music)
All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001/Director, Story, Writer, Editor)
Swallowtail Butterfly (1996/Director, Story, Writer, Editor)
Love Letter (1995/Director, Story, Writer, Editor)
＜COMMENT＞
If it is something that Muneyuki Kii wants to do, I will definitely support him. That is my simple reason for taking part in this project.
As a producer, he is extremely reliable.
It is as if there is no locked door that he can't open.
Working with him is a pleasure incomparable to anything else. I think it is because he has the power to believe in people.
In every era, there are always maverick innovators who rewrite history.
This time, he created a new journey for us.
K2 Pictures.
It is just like a car or a ship. It also can be an airplane or a submarine.
If we climb a mountain, it can turn into a pair of ice axes and crampons.
This adaptability will be the strength of K2 Pictures.
With such a team, even filmmakers can work hard.
I would like to repay this favor by contributing all the ideas I can think of.
I wonder what adventures are waiting for us.
What kind of team will it be in the next 10 years?
I can't wait to see how everything turns out.
Yuuka Eda
Eda’s debut feature, Girls’ Encounter (2018), which she directed, wrote and edited, won the Audience Award at MOOSIC LAB, a film festival that has become a gateway to success for young directors and musicians, in 2017, and the Best Director Award at the Asian Film Festival Barcelona. The film was also an official selection for the Hong Kong and Shanghai International Film Festivals, and its theatrical release was well received and earned exceptionally long run. As a photographer, Eda has worked with various artists and advertisements. She’s currently working on a feature film project with a K2 Pictures’ producer, Daiju Koide.
＜COMMENT＞
“I sometimes hear that “Films from peaceful countries are boring.” Currently, I’m living in Japan without facing serious hardships like economic inequality or war. Perhaps, this is considered “peaceful.” However, the number one cause of death in Japan among teens to 30-somethings is suicide. What makes them to end their lives by themselves? What does true affluence mean? In fact, living in Japan, it feels like a sense of poverty is gnawing my heart, and that feeling is difficult to put into words. There must be films to encounter at such time. I believe that the project I’m developing with Daiju Koide, a producer from the same generation, will be a film that can only be made by us who live in Japan today.”
Hirokazu Kore-eda
Writer/director of Shoplifters, winner of the top prize Palm d’Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. Daiju Koide of K2 Pictures studied under Kore-eda in university, and is participating as producer in several Kore-eda projects now under development.
Filmography (Partial Title List)
Monster (2023/Director, Editor)
Broker (2022/Director, Writer, Editor)
Shoplifters (2018/Director, Story, Writer, Editor)
Like Father, Like Son (2013/Director, Writer, Editor)
Nobody Knows (2004/Director, Writer, Editor)
＜COMMENT＞
I have been making films for 30 years, and I was in the process of searching for ways to solve my doubts and concerns about the traditional way of making films, until I met the challenge of Mr. Kii and his team. If this challenge succeeds, a good wind will blow in the film industry and opportunities will open up for new talents. I sympathized with the passion to make such a future into reality, and I am glad to be a part of this project.
I am excited for our collaboration.
Kazuya Shiraishi
A director whose work is always some of the Japanese industry’s most highly anticipated, who turns out works in a wide range of genres including yakuza films, historical dramas, suspense, and special effects.
K2 Pictures CEO Muneyuki Kii worked with him on the Blood of Wolves series and A Gambler’s Odyssey 2020.
Among other projects, he is currently working with Kii．
Selected Filmography
Bushido (2024)
Lesson in Murder (2022)
The Blood of Wolves series (2018, 2021)
Netflix/The Queen of Villains (2024/Director)
Prime Video/KAMEN RIDER BLACK SUN (2022/ Director)
＜COMMENT＞
I sincerely applaud K2 Pictures for their brave start and hope they will bring a revolution to the Japanese film industry and break the invisible walls. Please expect to see projects that have never been possible in Japanese film before, and the creation of outstanding and unique talents. I would also like to work alongside them to create films that will astonish the world.
Miwa Nishikawa
Her second feature, Sway was selected for the Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. All of her subsequent solo director films have been shown at festivals overseas. With Daiju Koide of K2 Pictures producing, she is developing a feature based on another original story.
Filmography (Partial Title List)
Under the Open Sky (2021/Director, Writer)
The Long Excuse (2016/Director, Story, Writer)
Dreams for Sale (2012/Director, Story, Writer)
Dear Doctor (2009/Director, Story, Writer)
Sway (2006/Director, Story, Writer)
＜COMMENT＞
While pursuing my career in the Japanese film industry, I somehow felt more like I was hanging on to a dead-end rope than confidence or hope. I was afraid to make films anymore.
So I turned my back on "film" and wrote stories that would never be welcomed by film companies or investors.
Then, a man named Kii-san told me that K2 Pictures, the company he had started, would fund it with new investments and make it into a movie. I wondered if he was serious.
Moreover, he said that he was opening the door to opportunities for creative projects by young filmmakers. Instead of sticking with the idea of playing it safe, I thought K2 Pictures' challenge to create opportunities for new people and new things in an environment with sufficient funding was worth taking on board.
In some ways, K2 Picture’s fund and new distribution system seemed like a risky venture. In fact, it may not be an easy thing to do. But that's filmmaking, and if I'm going to make a film, I want to work with a team willing to be adventurous. If there is a possibility that this will become a new opportunity for filmmakers in Japan in the future, then that's even better.
Nanako Hirose
After working as an assistant director for Hirokazu Kore-eda and Miwa Nishikawa, Hirose made her directorial debut with His Lost Name (2019), for which she wrote the script. The film was screened at the Busan International Film Festival. In December of the same year, Hirose’s documentary film about a book designer, Nobuyoshi Kikuchi, Book-Paper-Scissor (2019), was also released. The project she’s working on with Daiju Koide from K2 Pictures won the CJ and ARRI awards at the Asian Project Market at the Busan International Film Festival in 2023.
＜COMMENT＞
My second live-action feature with an original script had been having difficulty raising funds for a long time, so that it couldn’t move forward. Then I was offered an investment from K2 Pictures, and I felt like I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Last year, we participated in the Asian Project Market at the Busan International Film Festival, and my project won both the CJ and ARRI awards, from which I gained momentum. I’m currently preparing for the filming which will be starting next year.
I genuinely support K2 Pictures’ attempt to create a new system and break the vicious cycle of the Japanese film industry. Above all, as a filmmaker, I hope that I can contribute to their tremendous challenge by making a good film.
MAPPA
One of Japan’s top animation studios, whose titles include JUJUTSU KAISEN 0, and TV animations like Chainsaw Man and Attak on Titan. Forthcoming works are highly anticipated by fans of anime both in Japan and overseas. MAPPA is currently working with K2 Pictures CEO Muneyuki Kii on the planning of two feature-length animations.
Filmography (Partial Title List)
Film
CHAINSAW MAN−THE MOVIE: REZE ARC (Production scheduled)
JUJUTSU KAISEN 0 (2021)
TV Animation
Vinland Saga Season 2 (2023)
Chainsaw Man (2022)
Attack on Titan series (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)
＜COMMENT＞
I have participated in this project because I want to support K2 Pictures in their challenge.
As an animation studio, we will do our best to think about what we can do as a partner in the film production.
Takashi Miike
His every new film is invited to festivals around the world, and he has taken part in seven Cannes Film Festivals. Three of these have been Director’s Fortnight selections, while K2 Pictures CEO Muneyuki Kii served as producer on First Love. With Kii, he is now working on an international co-production of a classic Japanese film.
Filmography (Partial Title List)
First Love (2020/Director)
Shield of Straw (2013/Director)
13 Assassins (2010/Director)
Ichi the Killer (2001/Director)
Audition (1999/Director)
＜COMMENT＞
K2Pictures. And about a mysterious man called Kii.
Kii = Honest Subversive.
I see him as very powerful. And I think the energy comes from his kindness.
“Let's make more interesting films and be happier.”
I feel such a simple message in his smile.
This is why I believe in "K2 pictures".
Yuriyan Retriever
A popular Japanese comedian who drew attention in 2019 with her appearances on the U.S. audition show America’s Got Talent. As an actor, she stars in director Kazuya Siraishi’s Queen of Villains, to be distributed on Netflix later this year. She has also announced that as of this year she will be based in the U.S.
She is teaming up with K2 Pictures producer Daisuke Takahashi to take on the challenge of directing her first feature film, a genre picture of a style popular overseas that will present a new side of her character to go along with her comic presence.
＜COMMENT＞
This all started a few years ago, when the producer Daisuke Takashi got in touch after he’d seen me say “I want to become a movie director” on a morning TV interview show he was watching on the theme of “ambitions”. Not just as a comedian, but also as a film director I would like more people to appreciate my work.
