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“Spirit World” unfolds as a moving meditation on existence after death, weaving together the stories of three characters who don’t seem to be related but who confront unresolved problems in a space between life and death.

Hayato (Yutaka Takenouchi), a director who is having trouble coming up with new ideas, is shown at the beginning of the movie with his famous French singer Claire (Catherine Deneuve) and his old father Yuzo (Masaaki Sakai). During a show in Tokyo, their journeys cross, resulting in chance meetings in a spiritual afterlife.

“Spirit World,” which had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, is Eric Khoo’s return to filmmaking. It suggests a resurrection for both him and the audience’s connection with mortality. Deneuve’s fame makes it more appealing, and people from all over the world watch it.

Concerns about aging and legacy are particularly prevalent in Khoo’s narrative,...

Singaporean film director Eric Khoo has received numerous awards, including the Singapore Cultural Medallion and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government. Since 1995, he has played a key role in reviving Singapore’s film industry and gaining international recognition. His notable works have been screened at prestigious film festivals including Berlin, Venice, and Cannes.

On the occasion of his latest film “Spirit World” screening at Tokyo International Film Festival, we speak with him about the casting of the movie and particularly Catherine Deneuve and Masaaki Sakai, his family’s involvement in the movie, surf music in Japan, the Japanese style of the film and other topics

The cast in the movie is one of its most impressive assets. Can you tell me how it worked and particularly how you managed to have Catherine Deneuve and Masaaki Sakai in the movie?

We were in contact with Catherine through our co-producer Matilde Incerti.

This year’s TIFF essentially confirmed what 2024 is all about in Asian cinema terms: co-productions, Chinese cinema, Asean genre films and a Japanese industry that has gotten back to the top due to its ever present stability. The program was quite interesting in general, as it combined genre with art house in an almost equal ratio, in a rather unusual move for a festival, where the selection tends to linger towars the latter. The result definitely worked, particularly in terms of diversity, with the program including from experimental titles to intense crowdpleasers and everything between. “She Taught Me Serendipity“, “Pavane for an Infant“, and “Harbor Lights” are among the highlights of a selection that includes a number of gems.

Check our full coverage in the articles below

1. Film Review: Sima’s Song (2024) by Roya Sadat © Ton Peters

“Sima’s Song” is an excellent film that manages to highlight the issues Afghanistan faces...

The endeavors of Asian filmmakers with European actors has been hit or miss through the years, with the result of such collaborations being dubious to say the least. As such, it is quite a pleasure watching Singaporean Eric Khoo‘s collaboration with Catherine Deneuve being harmonic, perhaps because she is actually one part and not the whole “Spirit World”.

Spirit World is screening at Tokyo International Film Festival

Let us take things from the beginning though. Yuzu is an elderly man who is obviously on the last days of his life, which he spends working, drinking and listening to the records of his favorite artist, a French singer named Claire. Around the same time, she is also coming to Japan for a concert, despite the fact that her psychological situation is not exactly the best. Yuzu dies and the same happens to Claire after the concert, although not before the former’s son,...

As local films continue to gain momentum on the global stage, the 35th Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) is set to showcase the vitality and diversity of our nation’s filmmaking talent while reflecting current trends in Asian and international cinema. This year, the festival promises an exciting lineup of over 30 Singaporean and made-with-Singapore feature and short films, as well as new initiatives such as the introduction of the festival’s first-ever ambassador, and a revamped Audience Choice Award.

Sgiff 2024 also marks the introduction of film producer and creative Jeremy Chua as the new General Manager of the festival. Drawing from his extensive experience as a film producer and his in-depth knowledge of the film industry both locally and regionally, Chua brings with him an insider’s perspective on how best the Singaporean film scene can be elevated from within. His vision aims to shift common perceptions of Singaporean cinema,...

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi will receive an honorary award at the Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) this year.

The 35th edition of Sgiff will organize a special tribute and hold a dialogue session with Panahi, who will receive the festival’s highest honor, the Cinema Honorary Award. This also marks the first time that Panahi is attending Sgiff in-person after the lifting of his 14-year travel ban. Panahi’s films like The Circle, This Is Not A Film and Crimson Gold will be screened at the festival.

The festival’s Cinema Honorary Award was introduced in 2014 and has recognized filmmakers like Hong Kong’s Fruit Chan, Indonesia’s Garin Nugroho, Cambodia’s Rithy Panh, and Japan’s Takashi Miike.

“It’s an incredible honor to be selected as the recipient of the Cinema Honorary Award by Sgiff,” Panahi said. “Since my visit to the festival in 1998 with my film, The Mirror,...

Busan International Film Festival has revealed the full line-up for its 29th edition, which will open with the world premiere of Netflix period drama Uprising, produced and co-written by Park Chan-wook, and close with Eric Khoo’s Spirit World, starring Catherine Deneuve.

At a press conference in Seoul today (September 3), it was also announced that Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa will receive the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award, while organisers addressed ongoing funding challenges facing the festival.

Uprising marks the first time a streaming title has been set as the opening feature of Asia’s largest film festival. The South...

Korea’s Busan International Film Festival has unveiled the full program of its 29th edition, which will open with the world premiere of Uprising, produced and co-written by Park Chan-wook, and close with Spirit World, starring Catherine Deneuve and directed by Singapore’s Eric Khoo.

Directed by Kim Sang-Man, Uprising marks Park’s first collaboration with Netflix. Gang Dong-won and Park Jeong-min star in the period epic, which Park co-scripted with Shin Chul, about two childhood friends who are turned into bitter adversaries.

Spirit World stars Deneuve as a legendary singer who flies to Japan for a final sold-out concert after which she embarks on an unexpected life in the spirit world with one of her biggest fans as her guide. Masaaki Sakai also stars in the film, a France-Singapore-Japan co-production that is being sold internationally by Goodfellas.

Busan also announced that Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been named Asian Filmmaker Of The Year.

Singaporean director Eric Khoo has unveiled fresh details on his new film Spirit World, which is currently shooting in Japan with Catherine Deneuve in the lead role, and also unveiled Goodfellas as the international sales agent.

Paris-based sales company Goodfellas will launch the film at the EFM. Arp Sélection has acquired French rights.

Deneuve plays legendary singer Claire who flies to Japan for a final sold-out concert, but as the show comes to an end so does her worldly life.

She then arrives in the spirit world where she embarks on a journey to find the humanity in the afterlife that eluded her on earth, guided by Yuzo, one of her biggest fans.

Deneuve is joined in the cast by Masaaki Sakai (best known to international audiences as the star of the 1970s hit show Monkey), Yutaka Takenouchi (Shin Godzilla) and Jun Fubuki.

Khoo, whose recent credits include the HBO Asia Original horror Folklore,...

After weeks of teasing Marvel Comics has finally revealed the exciting new Spider-Man character set to make his debut appearance in the upcoming Spider-Man #7. But who is Spider-Boy?

This new Spider-Man hero, who is not a Multiversal variant from the Spider-Verse, is instead an Earth-616 webslinger named Bailey who goes by Spider-Boy, and apparently a long-lost sidekick of Peter Parker.

Bailey's Spider-Boy will debut in Spider-Man #7 - from Spider-Man legends Dan Slott and Mark Bagley - and his story will continue in both Spider-Man and Edge of Spider-Verse #3, where his history, origins, and unique powers will be revealed. The gorgeous "Top Secret Spoiler Variant Cover" by Humberto Ramos for Spider-Man #7 reveals Bailey's awesome look, featuring a color scheme and design reminiscent of Spider-Man 2099, plus some killer sneakers.

Spider-Boy Does Not Hail From The Spider-Verse

Created and designed by Dan Slott and his longtime collaborator Humberto Ramos, Spider-Boy is actually...

The year is 2020, but according to the autobiographical book it is based on, the ‘monogatari’ of Sho Miyake’s truly impressive drama “Small, Slow but Steady” should be set in the 2010’s. Looking at it, this is not the only trick the audience falls for – the film’s beginning fools you into believing that you are watching a real deal, a documentary about the female boxer Keiko Ogasawara (Yukino Kishii) who entered history as the first professional with dissability in this sport. This is not only due to the opening cards informing the audience about the main protagonist’s background and her inborn sensorineural hearing loss which resulted in no hearing in either ear, but equally as much by observing her during a long, intense training in the gym. We are additionally told that she became a licenced professional boxer in 2019 with an amazing victory in her first fight.

The year is 2020, but according to the autobiographical book it is based on, the ‘monogatari’ of Sho Miyake’s truly impressive drama “Small, Slow but Steady” should be set in the 2010’s. Looking at it, this is not the only trick the audience falls for – the film’s beginning fools you into believing that you are watching a real deal, a documentary about the female boxer Keiko Ogasawara (Yukino Kishii) who entered history as the first professional with dissability in this sport. This is not only due to the opening cards informing the audience about the main protagonist’s background and her inborn sensorineural hearing loss which resulted in no hearing in either ear, but equally as much by observing her during a long, intense training in the gym. We are additionally told that she became a licenced professional boxer in 2019 with an amazing victory in her first fight. Add...

Not since Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 silent “The Ring” has there been a boxing film quite so quiet as “Small, Slow But Steady,” a gentle but hard-edged study of a flyweight female pugilist in suburban Tokyo. More concerned with the wear and tear of everyday life than pummeling sound and fury, director Shô Miyake’s measured, unsentimental adaptation of a memoir by Keiko Ogasawara — who turned professional despite the difficulties of lifelong deafness — turns out to be somewhat aptly described by its own title, though none of those adjectives quite conveys its rare and delicate grace. A highlight of the Encounters program at this year’s Berlinale, this unassuming gem should turn the heads of specialist distributors and further festival programmers, despite its general avoidance of crowd-courting tactics.

In adapting Ogasawara’s book “Makenaide!” — which translates, with an imperative urgency the film doesn’t share, as “Do Not Lose!” — Miyake and...