In My Father’s Room lands with Bitters End for sales
Bitters End will sell Maha Harada’s San Sebastian competition drama internationally and release it in Japan in January 2027.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
In My Father’s Room, the San Sebastian Film Festival competition entry from Japanese novelist Maha Harada, has joined the Bitters End fall sales slate, Variety reported.
According to Variety, Bitters End will handle international sales for the drama and will also release the film in Japan in January 2027. The project is Harada’s first feature as director.
Variety said the film is known in Japan as Muyou no Hito and is based on Harada’s short story An Unnecessary Man. The adaptation puts one of Japan’s best-selling authors behind the camera for the first time.
What is In My Father’s Room about?
Variety described the story as following Satomi, an art museum worker who receives an envelope containing a key she does not recognize. The key leads her to a room connected to her father, who died alone a month earlier.
As Satomi looks into his final days, Variety reported, she begins to see a man who had been dismissed by others but found meaning in words, tea ceremony and small moments of beauty.
The cast includes Aoi Yu, whose credits include Wife of a Spy, along with Ogata Issey of Onoda, Silence and Yi Yi, Variety said. Nagayama Eita, seen in Monster, and Watanabe Eri of Shall We Dance? are also in the ensemble.
Variety reported that Kitagawa Yoshio is the cinematographer. His credits include Evil Doesn’t Exist and Lost Land.
Who is Maha Harada?
Harada has sold more than 10 million books since she began publishing in 2006, according to Variety. The outlet said she studied Japanese literature and art history before working at a trading company and at museums, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Variety reported that Harada later moved into freelance curatorial and cultural writing. Her art-focused novels include Canvas of Paradise and Guernica Cover-Up.
Bitters End has spent more than three decades releasing international auteur films in Japan, Variety said. The company has distributed work by filmmakers including Hamaguchi Ryusuke, Bong Joon Ho, the Dardenne brothers, Jia Zhangke, Roy Anderson and Gianfranco Rosi.
Recent Bitters End releases cited by Variety include Below the Clouds, Young Mothers, Sex/Love/Dreams, Anora and The Odyssey. On the production side, Variety listed the company’s credits as including Oscar winner Drive My Car, Locarno Golden Leopard winner Two Seasons, Two Strangers, Cannes prizewinner All of a Sudden and Cannes Un Certain Regard selection All the Lovers in the Night.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.