A Japanese actress Kōki will team up with “Slow Horses”  star Jack Lowden and Takehiro Hira in “Tornado” which will be taken to the Cannes Market by HanWay Films. 

Director John Maclean’s latest film, which sets in the rugged landscape of 1790s Britain, Tornado (Played by Kōki), is a young and determined Japanese woman who finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father’s (Takehiro) travelling puppet Samurai show crosses paths with a gang of ruthless criminals led by Sugarman and his ambitious son Little Sugar (Lowden). In an attempt to create a new life for herself, Tornado seizes the opportunity to take matters into her own hands and steal the gold from their most recent heist.

Kōki is a daughter of the Japanese star, Takuya Kimura, she earned her recognition through her modeling career and her first starring role in “Ushikubimura” (directed by Takashi Shimizu), she garnered the New Face Award at the The 65th Blue Ribbon Awards, sponsored by the Tokyo Film Reporter’s Association(consisting of film journalists from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers).   

A BAFTA-winning director, Maclean made a debut film with Michael Fassbender in “Slow West,” won the World Cinema Jury Prize at Sundance in 2015. Lowden had enormous success on stage in leading roles, including his performance as Oswald in Henrik Insen’s “Ghost,” for which he won both the Ian Charlson Award and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2014 and received international fame on his portrayal of River Cartwright in Apple TV+ hit “Slow Horses.”

“We are thrilled to be working with John Maclean again, especially in support of such a unique project,” said HanWay CEO Gabrielle Stewart. “A female led, British set, Samurai inspired survival thriller – what’s not to love there?”HanWay will launch sales next week at the Cannes.

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