Reel suspects the sale of Japanese director Keishi Kondo’s sci-fi horror New Religion

EXCLUSIVE: Reel Suspects is on board to sell Japanese filmmaker Keishi Kondo’s popular sci-fi horror new religion ahead of its US premiere at Slamdance later this month.

The feature debut was warmly received in Europe’s sci-fi and Horrorfest circles in the fall, with fans saying the work could usher in a revival of the so-called J-horror genre.

Kaho Seto plays a divorced woman who takes a job as a call girl after the tragic accidental death of her young daughter. One day she becomes engaged to a strange client who asks to take a picture of her spine.

On several dates, he takes off almost every part of her body. The woman realizes that every time he takes a photo, the ghost of her dead daughter approaches. Before long, the only part of her body that remains are her eyes.

Indie filmmaker Kondo enjoys a growing following at home and abroad.

He says the film is a response to what he sees as “a sense of social collapse engulfing Japanese society” along with the country’s slowing economic growth and aging population.

“I set the protagonist of this film as a metaphor for Japanese society. Through the main character’s loss of a loved one and her quest to recover her daughter’s spirit through magical technology, I tried to express the small resignation to survive in a “society where everything seems to have ended” and the future which starts from there Show. explain.

new religion is the first acquisition in Japan for Paris-based genre specialists Reels Suspects. The company is giving the film its market debut at the Berlinale’s upcoming European Film Market in February.

“Keichi’s work is very powerful, with surgical cinematography and script. It draws the audience into the depths of its own world,” said Matteo Lovadina, CEO of Reel Suspects.