KANA HATAKEYAMA
FITNESS! or a story about SWEAT

Receiving pre-production funding from The Future of Film is Female
(July 2019)

About the film: Kana Hatakeyama's new short film that she is writing, directing & producing, is called "FITNESS! or a story about SWEAT." It will be her first English-language film as writer-director, following her filmmaking debut "okaasan (mom)," and will be filming in New York this summer. Logline: A titillating rom-com (?) that might be about nature and technology, set mostly but not entirely in a gym.

The funds will be used to pay for the location where the filming will occur most of the film (a gym!).

About the filmmaker: Kana Hatakeyama is an award-winning Japanese + American filmmaker and actor based in Brooklyn. Her short film "okaasan (mom),” for which she wrote, produced, directed and acted, marks her screenwriting & directorial debut. “okaasan (mom)” has screened at multiple film festivals, including New Orleans Film Festival (Audience Award), Nitehawk Shorts Festival (First Time Filmmaker Award, Audience Award), Dallas International Film Festival (Special Jury Award), Brooklyn Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, and more. As an actor, she has performed in critically-acclaimed plays in New York City and around the country, as well as in the Emmy Award-recognized Netflix shows "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" and "Orange is the New Black," the latter in a recurring role in its latest season. Kana grew up in both Japan and the United States, and has also spent time living in France, Argentina and Kenya. She is a graduate of Duke University.

Instagram: @kanahata
Website: kanahata.com