Filmmaker Miike Takashi, known for a prolific and genre-spanning career, has made his first documentary, "Shumei: The Living Legacy of Kabuki," which is premiering out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film centres on kabuki performer Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII, who previously worked with Miike as an actor in "Hara-Kiri" and "Blade of the Immortal," and marks a departure for the director into non-fiction filmmaking after years of stage-influenced projects.

The documentary follows the 2022 succession ceremony in which Danjūrō took on his prestigious new stage name, with Miike opting for an unstructured, observational approach to the kabuki performances rather than directing the stagework himself. Miike said he aimed to show who Danjūrō and his son are as people rather than showcase kabuki's aesthetic beauty, hoping to spark audience curiosity to see them perform live. He also noted that the international profile of kabuki has grown thanks to last year's Oscar-nominated, box-office-record-breaking film "Kokuho," which he said should help his own film's release despite the timing being coincidental.