Maha Harada Finds Dreamlike Success in Directorial Debut ‘In My Father’s Room’

After spending twenty years crafting narratives on the page, bestselling Japanese author Maha Harada has stepped behind the camera for her feature directorial debut, In My Father’s Room. The film, adapted from her short story “An Unnecessary Man,” is set to premiere in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival before traveling to the Busan International Film Festival.

Bitters End has already secured distribution rights for France, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, with additional territories currently under negotiation. For Harada, the shift from prose to film feels like a natural evolution rather than a dramatic leap. Her prior career as a museum curator influenced her writing style long before she considered directing, leading her to visualize scenes and inner character lives through a cinematic lens.

The narrative follows Satomi, an art museum employee who barely knows her father, Yuichi, until his solitary death. Harada revealed that the character was inspired by her own father, an art book seller who loved cinema and gambling but also introduced her to Picasso and classic films at a young age. She noted that it was only after his passing that she fully appreciated his influence.

Central to the film is the exploration of personal value independent of societal utility. Harada emphasized that Yuichi’s pursuit of his own passions, however unconventional, constitutes a happy life. Visually, the film anchors itself in the Japanese tea ceremony, or chanoyu, and the work of Mark Rothko. Harada highlighted that Japanese museums hold ten Rothko pieces, acquired by curators who recognized the artist’s spiritual depth decades ago.

Transitioning to a collaborative film set required Harada to relinquish some authorial control. After her assistant director noted excessive stage directions, she trimmed the script significantly, reducing dialogue to a minimum. She praised lead actors Yu Aoi and Issey Ogata for their subtle performances, particularly noting a scene where Aoi conveys deep despair through minimal action and Ogata’s warm portrayal of a father clinging to his values.

Cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa helped shape the film’s aesthetic, drawing inspiration from Yasujiro Ozu and Victor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive, as well as Kei Kumai’s Death of a Tea Master. Harada stated that reaching international audiences had been her greatest challenge as a writer, making this debut at 64 a deliberate statement against age limits in the industry.

Describing the experience as dreamlike, Harada expressed her hope to continue both novel writing and filmmaking, acknowledging that while the dual path will be more difficult, it will also be “twice as wonderful.”