Teenager's silent grief drives new Brazilian-Japanese film

Erika is 16 and refuses to speak about the cousin who vanished eight years ago. The silence now threatens her family's stability in the debut feature Yellow Chrysanthemum. Director André Hayato Saito presented the project at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market to secure the capital needed to move forward.

The narrative is set in São Paulo during July 2014. Brazil hosts the World Cup while Erika, a third-generation Japanese-Brazilian, navigates her identity. She feels like an outsider in her home country and rejects her family's cultural roots. Her distance stems from a specific trauma. Her cousin Yam, also her closest friend, disappeared during a festival in the Liberdade neighborhood. Erika's mother was watching the children at the time. The family has maintained a guilty silence since that day.

The dynamic changes when Erika befriends Bianca, a Black classmate. Bianca is openly grieving the recent death of her mother. This new connection forces Erika's suppressed feelings to the surface. Her family can no longer avoid confronting the absence of Yam. The story explores how unspoken pain affects relationships across different cultural backgrounds.

Saito drew from his own childhood for the script. He recalled sitting in a bathroom with his father as a boy. He asked where people go after they die. His father answered with a long silence. Saito noted that in his Japanese-Brazilian household, silence expressed love and respect. It also concealed deep pain. He sees this feature as a continuation of his earlier work on grief and identity.

The director previously made a short film titled Amarela. It follows a similar character named Erika rejecting traditions during a World Cup final. That short competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2024. It was shortlisted for the live-action short Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards. It also won best live-action short at Brazil's Grande Otelo Awards. It is part of a trilogy with Kokoro to Kokoro and Vento Dourado.

Saito wants audiences to find their own families in Erika's journey. He does not offer easy answers or conventional closure. He hopes viewers will reflect on things left unspoken in their own lives. The film is a co-production involving Brazil, Japan, Germany, and France.

The project is currently in pre-production after years of development. It won the TorinoFilmLab Production Award. It was also selected for Focus Copro at Cannes. The team plans to shoot a key sequence in November. This scene takes place at a traditional Japanese Toro Nagashi ceremony in Brazil.

Mayra Faour Auad, founder of MyMama Entertainment, is producing the film. She has more than 20 credits, mostly international co-productions. MyMama is developing the project with One Two Films, Loaded Films, and Blue Monday. In Tokyo, Faour Auad stated the team aims to close the financing gap. They also hope to meet producers and distributors to reach audiences across Asia. She said finding an audience in Japan has particular meaning due to the film's roots.

Saito is also developing his second feature, Little Faults. It earned a place in Turin's Boost IT Lab this year. The story follows an aging Japanese-Brazilian woman in Japan. She commits minor offenses hoping to end up in prison. She believes she might finally be cared for there. The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market runs as part of TIFFCOM, the content market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival.