<\/p>\n
A new Japanese-Taiwanese co-production is seeking financing at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, bringing together voices from across borders to tell an intimate story set in Tokyo\u2019s LGBTQ+ hub.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolaris,\u201d directed by Seta Natsuki and produced by Twenty First City in partnership with Taiwan\u2019s Volos Films, unfolds over one winter night at a bar in Ni-chome. Based on the novel \u201cThe Night of the Shining North Star\u201d by Li Kotomi, the film centers on women of different ages, nationalities and sexualities who gather in the titular establishment, sharing drinks, laughter and fragments of their lives under soft blue light. As their stories intersect like stars in a constellation, the film explores themes of self-identity and human connection before the women part ways at dawn.<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n For Seta, the project represents a meditation on authenticity and understanding. \u201cThis film is a reflection on what it means to be yourself and how hard it can be to understand one another,\u201d the director says. \u201cIt\u2019s also about how we define our sense of self. How we categorize ourselves and others \u2013 or choose not to. And how we can begin to rethink what we once thought of as \u2018normal\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The production has faced unique challenges in adapting Li Kotomi\u2019s source material, which comprises seven interconnected short stories spanning different times and places. \u201cOne of the major challenges has been finding a way to weave them into a single film,\u201d Seta notes. The team is conducting extensive research and interviews in Japan and Taiwan to inform their exploration of sexuality and gender issues central to the narrative.<\/p>\n For producer Kawashima Shoichiro, \u201cPolaris\u201d marks a significant departure for Twenty First City, which has served as a local production partner for Hollywood and European shoots in Japan since the 1990s. \u201cThis is the first time we are developing a film project from the beginning ourselves,\u201d Kawashima says. The company gained momentum through participation at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a cross-border story with characters of diverse nationalities,\u201d Kawashima explains of their Tokyo market objectives. \u201cWe want the film to resonate widely, so we hope to receive feedback from as many people as possible. It would be ideal to meet partners who share our vision and are willing to support us in bringing the project to completion.\u201d<\/p>\n The production is eyeing a winter 2026 shoot, with Seta and screenwriter Kyoko Inukai continuing script development. Casting is slated to begin later this year as the team actively pursues investors, distribution partners and world sales.<\/p>\n Seta\u2019s directorial interests extend beyond this project to exploring how small moments can shift perspectives on everyday life and society, with a particular focus on the complexity of human understanding \u2013 themes that appear central to \u201cPolaris\u201d itself.<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new Japanese-Taiwanese co-production is seeking financing at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, bringing together voices from across borders to tell an intimate story set in Tokyo\u2019s LGBTQ+ hub. \u201cPolaris,\u201d directed by Seta Natsuki and produced by Twenty First City in partnership with Taiwan\u2019s Volos Films, unfolds over one winter night at a bar in Ni-chome. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2119469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[402287,402285,384369,402286,370853],"class_list":["post-2119468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-kawashima-shoichiro","tag-li-kotomi","tag-polaris","tag-seta-natsuki","tag-tokyo"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cross-Border-LGBTQ-Drama-\u2018Polaris-Debuts-at-Tokyo-Gap-Financing-Market.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2119468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2119468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2119468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2119470,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2119468\/revisions\/2119470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2119469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2119468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2119468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2119468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}