APM - Asian Project Market

2023 Project

Logline

Uta and Morio are married, but she has a lover of the same-sex, Junna. When faced with a choice, she proposes that Morio and Junna have a child together.

Synopsis

Uta, a writer of children′s stories who hates children, and her husband, Morio, are in their third year of marriage. When her husband Morio, who has long wanted children, finally insists that it is time to start a family, Uta consults her lover, Junna, who is an editor. Junna reveals her displeasure. She is in the process of testing her fertility through artificial insemination, using sperm from a sperm bank. Cornered, Uta comes out to Morio, and takes a gamble. She plans to bring Morio and Junna together and gradually get them used to each other.
At first, Morio and Junna constantly fight and compete, but gradually they begin to warm to one another. After much discussion, the three of them vow to raise a child together. They try many times to conceive using the syringe method. Finally, Junna′s wish comes true and she gives birth to a child.
The three begin to live together with the child, but Uta, who is neither mother nor father, questions the meaning of her own existence and begins to feel anxious and helpless. In contrast, Morio and Junna grow closer and closer, becoming more and more convinced of their love for their child. They are like a real couple.
Uta was lonely. Uta did not really want a child, she just wanted their love. To end her agony, Uta decides to love her unborn child in order to repair their love.

Director's Statement

From the age of 20, Japanese women are constantly asked, “Are you married yet?” Once married, they are asked whether they have children yet. When it comes to LGBTQ people, good old-fashioned family values are even more pressing.
There was a time when I myself had strong doubts about the concept of family. I found it very painful to think that I had to fall in love and get married, like other people.
What we need, in order to be with the person we love, is not set forms or rules. We can surely live more "freely". With such a message, I hope this story will reach those who find it difficult to live with all kinds of ties and social norms.

Producer's Statement

Regardless of gender or sexual orientation, I will depict in my film how to love and live with the person in front of me, sometimes earnestly and sometimes with humor. In the second half of the story, the three main characters have a child. Confronted by a newborn baby, the three characters suffer again.
What positive legacy can we leave behind for the next generation and what can we pass on?
In order to live in a world where everyone can love and accept each other for who they are, even if just a little, we aim to create a work that can provoke a conversation and hopefully lead to change.

Director's Profile

Producer's Profile