Yellow Chrysanthemum is currently in pre-production and featured at this year’s Tokyo Gap-Financing Market. Japanese-Brazilian director André Hayato Saito is leading the project, which is a co-production involving Brazil, Japan, Germany, and France.
The film previously secured the TorinoFilmLab Production Award and was selected for Focus Copro at Cannes. Mayra Faour Auad, the founder of MyMama Entertainment with more than 20 credits, is developing the film alongside One Two Films, Loaded Films, and Blue Monday.
"Given the film’s Japanese-Brazilian roots, finding an audience in Japan has particular meaning for us," Faour Auad said. Saito recalled a childhood memory of asking his father about what happens after death, noting, "I vividly remember being a little boy, sitting in the bathroom with my father, when I suddenly asked him where we go after we die. He paused for a moment and answered with a long and profound silence."
The director added, "I don’t want to offer easy answers or a conventional sense of closure. I hope audiences will recognize something of their own families in Erika’s journey, regardless of their cultural backgrounds, and reflect on the things that remain unspoken in their own lives." Saito is also developing his second feature, Little Faults, which earned a spot in Turin’s Boost IT Lab in 2026.
His short film Amarela competed for the short film Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2024 and was shortlisted for a live-action short Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards. Amarela won best live-action short at Brazil’s Grande Otelo Awards and is part of a trilogy including Kokoro to Kokoro and Vento Dourado.
The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market operates as part of TIFFCOM, which is the content market for the Tokyo International Film Festival.
