Kôji Fukada on What Drives His Cannes Competition Debut ‘Nagi Notes’: ‘I Believe What Is Being Tested Now Is the Evolution of Democracy’

By Jenny S. Li

Jenny S. Li

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Previously selected for Cannes Premiere (“Love on Trial”) and Un Certain Regard (“Harmonium”), Kôji Fukada will now vie for the Palme d’Or in his first competition film with “Nagi Notes,” a gentle yet simmering drama on surviving existential crisis in a seemingly secluded rural town while the world embroiled in tensions.

“I’m grateful and honored because there’s only a limited number of films that get selected,” Fukada tells Variety. “I’m trying not to get too excited. If I were to rejoice excessively over entering the competition this time, it would imply that my past works were ‘bad’ simply because they didn’t make the cut, and I don’t feel that way at all.”

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