San Sebastian and Busan Title ‘In My Father’s Room’ Sells Wide for Bitters End (EXCLUSIVE)

Bitters End has sold “In My Father’s Room” to France, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong ahead of the film’s world premiere in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival, with several more territories still in negotiation.

After San Sebastian, the film will travel to the Busan International Film Festival.

Art House Films has picked up France, Jinjin Pictures takes Korea, Sky Digi Entertainment has Taiwan and Edko Films holds Hong Kong.

“A truly beautiful film. I was struck by the compositions, the contrasts, and the precision of the framing. What I loved most was its remarkable ability to move naturally between different art forms and weave them into everyday life. Deeply moving in its belief that art is what gives meaning to life,” said Eric Le Bot, president of Art House Films.

“In My Father’s Room,” known in Japan as “Muyou no Hito,” marks the feature directorial debut of best-selling novelist Maha Harada, adapted from her own short story “An Unnecessary Man.” The cast includes Aoi Yu (“Wife of a Spy”), Ogata Issey (“Onoda,” “Silence,” “Yi Yi”), Nagayama Eita (“Monster”) and Watanabe Eri (“Shall We Dance?”), with Kitagawa Yoshio, whose credits include “Evil Doesn’t Exist” and “Lost Land,” serving as cinematographer.

The story follows Satomi, an employee at an art museum, after an envelope arrives bearing an unfamiliar key. It unlocks a room left behind by her father, dead a month earlier and alone at the time. Tracing what he did in his last days, Satomi uncovers a figure society had largely written off, one who nonetheless took quiet comfort in language, in tea ceremony and in small, overlooked beauty, and she comes to recognize the grace in how he lived.

Bitters End will also handle the film’s local release, scheduled for January 2027 in Japan.