Producer Ohno Atsuko of Hassaku Labs, whose Fukada Koji film “Nagi Notes” is competing at the Cannes Film Festival this year, is reteaming with writer-director Pan Nalin on “The Man Who Walks,” an English-language love story currently in casting and seeking co-production partners at the Cannes Film Market.
The film’s central figure is the world’s only immortal man, drawn into a romance with a Japanese scholar whose life’s work centers on ancient texts about dying. The production is planned for Tokyo and multiple locations across Japan. The screenplay was written by Nalin and developed by his Monsoon Films production company in consultation with L.A.-based writer Tinker Lindsay.
The reunion extends a creative relationship forged on Nalin’s “Valley of Flowers,” a manga-inspired epic on which Ohno served as co-producer.
“Pan Nalin and I worked together on ‘Valley of Flowers’ — part of which was shot in Tokyo. That film dealt with the same preoccupations: immortality, reincarnation, a love that refuses to be extinguished by time. When he brought me this screenplay, we weren’t starting from zero. I believe in his vision, and that belief was built on something we had already made together,” Ohno said.
Nalin added: “‘The Man Who Walks’ is a cinematic meditation on time, memory, nature and the fragile weight of the human heart. I have remained deeply fascinated by ancient scriptures like the Egyptian Book of the Dead, or Bardo: Tibetan Book of the Dead, or even Maya Book of the Dead known as the Ceramic Codex. But when you imagine a love story with these epic backdrops, what you get is a contemporary romance celebrated through nothing but a simple act of walking.”
Nalin’s previous feature “Last Film Show” was Oscar-shortlisted in the international feature category in 2023 and was released theatrically in Japan by Shochiku Studios. The film is set for theatrical release in France this summer; it was sold worldwide by Studiocanal to distributors including Samuel Goldwyn Films in the U.S., Medusa in Italy and Shochiku in Japan.
Ohno says: “This film asks a question that humanity has never stopped asking — what lies beyond death. Is there hope on the other side, or only silence? A man who has walked the earth for 3.3 million years carries that doubt and that longing in every step. What moves me is watching him search for an answer he may never find — and the way Pan Nalin renders that search in images of breathtaking beauty. In a world full of uncertainty and anxiety, I believe this is a story that will reach deep into the hearts of many people.”
Ohno’s recent credits include “Love on Trial” by Fukada Koji, which screened at Cannes Premiere in 2025, and “Sleep No More” by Edwin, which premiered at Berlinale 2025.
Nalin is represented by Lindsay Williams at the Gotham Group in Hollywood.
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