UK Premiere of Hikari’s Rental Family Announced

The 69th BFI London Film Festival (8 to 19 October) in partnership with American Express is delighted to announce that this year’s American Express Gala will be the UK premiere of Searchlight Pictures’ Rental Family at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 16 October, with director Hikari and star Brendan Fraser expected to attend.

Directed and co-written by Hikari (37 Seconds, Beef), Rental Family stars Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman and Akira Emoto. Set in modern-day Tokyo, Rental Family follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection. Rental Family is produced by Eddie Vaisman, Julie Lebedev (Sight Unseen), Hikari and Shin Yamaguchi…