‘Shoplifters’ Star Lily Franky Heads Cast of ‘Diamonds in the Sand,’ Debut Feature by Janus Victoria — HAF Work-in-Progress

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lily Franky, the Japanese acting sensation who starred in “Shoplifters” and “Like Father Like Son,” heads the cast of “Diamonds in the Sand,” a multinational co-production that appears at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) as a work in progress. Developed and directed by Janus Victoria, the film started as an exploration of the Japanese phenomenon of kodokushi, or lonely death, where elderly people who live alone are discovered dead only months after their passing due to the isolated lives that they lead. In Victoria’s telling, Franky’s Yoji is a divorced and demoted Japanese salaryman who chooses to abandon it all and head to Manila.

He believes that nobody is lonely in the Philippines. For all its drawbacks and discomforts, the chaos of Manila offers the promise of life, human connection and unpredictable destiny, as opposed to kodokushi’s dark, silent certainty. Victoria has completed seven short fiction films, including “Hopia Express” (2006) and “Myth of Manila” (2021), which received best short film awards at Cinemanila and Sharjah, respectively, and has written and directed nearly a hundred long-reportage documentaries for Philippines broadcasting companies.

The cast also includes veteran Yoshiyuki Kazuko, who has appeared in hundreds of Japanese films including “Empire of Passion” and “20th Century Boys,” as well as Maria Isabel Lopez, a Philippines beauty queen who started her career in controversial films with plenty of sexual and erotic content, and has become an award-winning actress in the films of Brillante Mendoza. They are joined by young star Charlie Dizon, who made her name internationally with “Fangirl” by Antoinette Jadaone. The project first appeared in the circuit in the 2013 Talents Tokyo presentation and won the Grand Prix there that year.

The project also participated in Torino Film Lab (winning the Audience Choice Award), Rotterdam’s Cinemart, FDCP Project Market and the Tokyo Gap Financing Market. It is now structured as a three-way Japan-Philippines-Malaysia co-production. Producers are Malaysia’s Lorna Tee (Paperheart), the Philippines’ Dan Villegas (Project 8) and Japan’s Soga Masumi