When the Locarno Film Festival at the end of July unveiled director Naomi Kawase ’s ( Embracing , The Mourning Forest ) new film Yakushima’s Illusion ( L’Illusion de Yakushima ), starring none other than Vicky Krieps ( Corsage , The Dead Don’t Hurt , Hot Milk ), as a late addition to its competition lineup , it was considered a surprise and a coup.

Not much was known about the movie, but the involvement of two big names in independent film had industry insiders intrigued.

“Corry, a French coordinator of pediatric heart transplants, is sent to Japan where organ donation remains taboo,” reads a synopsis of the film on the Locarno festival website. “As she fights to save a young boy, her partner Jin, a photographer from Yakushima, suddenly vanishes. He becomes a

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