Japanese-Brazilian Grief Drama ‘Yellow Chrysanthemum,’ Set During the 2014 Soccer World Cup, Joins Tokyo Gap-Financing Market
Japanese-Brazilian director André Hayato Saito’s first feature, *Yellow Chrysanthemum*, has joined the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market as its team seeks partners to close a funding gap. The drama explores how grief and family silence shape identity, through a teenager who must confront the disappearance of her cousin.
Set in São Paulo during the 2014 World Cup, the film follows 16-year-old Erika, whose cousin Yam vanished at a festival when she was seven. Erika’s growing friendship with Bianca, a classmate grieving her mother, prompts her family to face the loss they have avoided discussing. The Brazil, Japan, Germany and France co-production is in pre-production; filming is planned to include a Japanese Toro Nagashi ceremony in Brazil this November.
In short
- Saito’s first feature is seeking financing in Tokyo.
- The story follows a teenager confronting her cousin’s disappearance.
- The international co-production is in pre-production.
Explained simply
São Paulo has a large community of people with Japanese ancestry, whose families have links to both Brazil and Japan. Toro Nagashi is a Japanese ceremony in which lanterns are floated on water to remember the dead; it is also practised in Brazil.
The film centres on Erika, a teenager whose cousin disappeared when she was young, and Bianca, a classmate mourning her mother. Their friendship brings the subject of loss into a family that has avoided discussing it. The story connects grief, family relationships and the experience of growing up between cultures.
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