Canoe Film Boards Mayumi Yoshida’s Debut Feature AKASHI

Experimental Forest Films and Musubi Arts announced that Canoe Film has boarded Mayumi Yoshida’s acclaimed debut feature Akashi.

Canoe is handling International sales, excluding Canada and Japan, for the award-winning feature. It has also taken the film to market in Cannes. Yoshida is also at the Marché du film de Cannes as a part of the Film Market Access Program.

True Talent

“We are thrilled to be kicking off conversations with international buyers in Cannes for Akashi,” says Caroline Stern, managing director and owner of London and Vancouver-based Canoe Film. “Mayumi is a true talent and her debut aligns perfectly with the kinds of projects that we support; a beautifully crafted contemporary story with a strong core audience and really broad cross-over appeal.”

Akashi is a multigenerational love story told across parallel timelines. Kana, a struggling artist in Vancouver, returns to Tokyo for her grandmother’s funeral, feeling out of place after ten years abroad. As she reflects on a secret only she and her grandmother shared. That her grandfather had another lover, she unexpectedly reconnects with an old love, Hiro. Intercut with the past, which traces her grandfather’s decades-long affair, Kana confronts hidden family truths and begins to navigate the complexities of love, sacrifice, and the choices that shape a life between desire and duty.

While Canoe handles the rest of the world, Canadian distributor KinoSmith is releasing the film in Canada and Rabbit House will release the film in Japan. Shot in Vancouver and Tokyo, Akashi has won numerous awards on its festival run, including an Audience Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival and a sweep at the Whistler Film Festival taking home five award wins including the coveted Borsos prize for Best Canadian Feature.

Cast

Akashi stars Mayumi Yoshida (The Man in the High Castle), Hana Kino (Like Father, Like Son), Ryo Tajima (Avalanche), Chieko Matsubara (Tokyo Drifter), Kunio Murai (Godzilla VS Gigan), Shun Sugata (Tokyo Vice), Bun Kimura (Rental Family), Sayaka Kunisada, Hiro Kanagawa (Shōgun) and Jess McLeod (Normal).

Creator Bio

Born in Japan and raised across three continents, Mayumi Yoshida is a Vancouver-based director, actor, writer, and producer. She is an alumna of Women In the Director’s Chair, TIFF Writer’s Studio, TIFF Series Accelerator and WBD Access x Canadian Academy Writers & Directors Programs.

Her directorial debut short film, Akashi, won Outstanding Writer at the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival. The music video she directed “Different Than Before” won a Vimeo Staff Pick, SXSW Jury Award, and was nominated for a JUNO Award. Recently, Yoshida was Associate Producer on the A24/Apple TV+ series Sunny. In 2025, she was selected for JETRO x CAPE’s Beyond Japan Filmmakers Directing Program, mentored by Hirokazu Koreeda. As an actor, she is famous for her role as the Crown Princess in The Man in the High Castle.

Yoshida has expanded her team with the addition of Echo Lake Entertainment in the US. Echo Lake Entertainment, an industry leading management and production company based in Beverly Hills, California, will represent her. She will be working with literary managers Frank Wuliger, Kara Hume and talent manager Lauren Feinstein. She is also repped by Katy McCaffrey at Gersh for literary in the US and in Canada by Tyman Stewart and Sohrab Merchant at Characters Talent Agency for both literary and talent.

Additional Credits

Musubi Arts & Experimental Forest Films produce Akashi in association with Watermark Media. Producers are Tyler Hagan andNach Dudsdeemaytha (Mongrels). The executive producers are Julie Waters, Evan Dyal, Mallory Schwartz, Kathleen Hepburn, and Justin Ambrosino. Hiroko Oda, of Flag Inc., was executive in charge of production in Japan. The film’s director of photography is Jaryl Lim (YAGA) and composer is Andrew Yong Hoon Lee (Riceboy Sleeps).

Akashi was made with the support of: