Bitters End has set North American distribution for “All the Lovers in the Night,” Yukiko Sode‘s Yukino Kishii and Tadanobu Asano starrer that premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes earlier this year.
Several Futures has acquired the film for the U.S. and Ritual Films for Canada. The company has also closed a deal with Movies Matter for Thailand.
The new deals join a slate of previously announced territories, including France, where Art House Films will distribute the film after releasing Sode’s “Aristocrats,” which drew more than 71,000 admissions in the country. Additional territories include Spain (Atalante), Bulgaria (NeterraTV+), Brazil (Belas Artes Grupo), South Korea (Pancinema), Taiwan (Andrews Film), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Singapore (Anticipate Pictures) and Indonesia (PT Falcon).
Based on Mieko Kawakami’s novel, the film follows Fuyuko, a freelance proofreader whose solitary existence shifts after she meets Mitsutsuka, a high school physics teacher, at a local culture center. Kishii plays Fuyuko, with Asano as Mitsutsuka.
Kawakami’s novel became an international literary sensation, reaching English-language readers and more than a dozen other markets worldwide. It holds the distinction of being the first work of Japanese fiction to make the shortlist for the U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award.
