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Paris-based The Pool Films has taken world rights to coming-of-age drama “The Color of the Sun,” which marks the feature film debut of Tokyo-based photographer and commercials director Xavier Tera, who has collaborated
with the likes of Harry Styles, Kaytranada and Rosalia.
“Color of the Sun,” which will soon launch from the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section, is acted in both Japanese and English. It was shot on the Japanese island of Okinawa, which hosts more than 30 U.S. military bases.
The film is the tale of a Japanese teen named Kamei and his group of friends during their final summer break before high school graduation. Their life is disrupted when they befriend Colin, a teenager raised on one of the island’s U.S. bases, “forcing Kamei to confront buried insecurities,” according to an official plot description.
“First sexual awakenings, blurred loyalties and betrayal unfold beneath the drone of helicopters,” the synopsis adds. “The clash and the uncanny resemblance between Kamei and Colin becomes the story’s beating heart: a raw coming-of-age film that asks what it means to belong.”
“Color of the Sun” is shot on 35mm film and lensed by ace cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, known for Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name” and “Challengers,” as well as Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Palme d’Or winner “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.”
It is a co-production between Italy, Canada and Japan, produced by Janie Chartier (Twin Brains); Stella Rossa Savino (MIA Film); Antonio Miyakawa (Wise Pictures); Jeremy O. Harris and Shogen. John Lesher (“Birdman”) serves as the film’s executive producer.
The “Color of the Sun” cast comprises first-time actors Naoto Shimajiri, Daido, Ichiro Andre Castro, Yuma Taira, as well as West Mulholland (“Presence,” “Animal Kingdom”).
The Pool Films co-founder Gilles Sousa in a statement called “The Color of the Sun” a “visually captivating and emotionally resonant debut,” adding: “Xavier Tera’s unique narrative perspective and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s extraordinary cinematography create a truly remarkable cinematic experience.”
Pool Films will introduce the film to international buyers immediately following its world premiere in Venice.
Tera, who was born in Montreal and raised between the U.K., Canada, and Japan, is a prominent fashion photographer and commercials director. Besides collaborating with several global pop stars, he has worked on campaigns for brands including Nike, Adidas, Burberry and Moncler, and also veered into visual art.
“Amid the initial waves of the Covid pandemic, I left Tokyo for Okinawa in the southern reaches of
Japan. While I had a cursory understanding of Okinawa’s recent history, the depth of its cultural
richness and historical independence really hit me,” Tera said in his “The Color of the Sun” directors’ statement.
“The more time I spent there, the more I recognized echoes of stories I had encountered
elsewhere. Coming from Canada, a country shaped by both French and British colonialism, I
became increasingly aware of the parallels between Okinawa’s history and that of Indigenous
communities around the world. Acknowledging the suffering inflicted by colonial powers, both in
Canada and beyond, I found myself deeply connected to what felt like a profoundly human and
universal story,” the director added.
“Rather than making a film about geopolitics, I wanted to explore these ideas through something
deeply intimate: the relationship between two teenagers from the same place, but not from the
same background. Against the backdrop of Okinawa’s complex history, I became interested in
questions of belonging; the tension between preserving tradition and embracing change, and the
unexpected beauty that can emerge when cultures collide and ultimately reshape one another,” Tera concluded.
The 83rd Venice Film Festival will run from Sept. 2 to 12.
