Leopard Spots
In a rural Japanese factory town, a mother consumed by fear of abandonment turns on her daughter.
After her marriage ends, Yuri moves back into her late father's house in Ando, a small factory town in Nara, with her eighteen-year-old daughter Riko. Riko starts summer school and falls for a local boy. Yuri takes a job at the udon factory and picks through what her father left behind: rooms of flower paintings, a notebook of small weekly routines, and a chair in the hallway that faces the wall.
The closer the two teenagers become, the tighter Yuri holds on, until she does something to the boy that cannot be undone. Only then does she play an old tape of her father, and see how much of him she has been repeating.
Producers' note
As a producer and founder of On Par Productions, I am motivated by creating an ambitious, supportive and internationally connected environment for Welsh filmmakers. I am committed to building a company culture that nurtures talent, particularly Welsh writers and directors, and helps them move beyond one-off success into sustainable feature careers.
Joshua Trigg's debut feature, Satu — Year of the Rabbit, reminded me why I fell in love with cinema. It was emotionally honest, visually bold and globally resonant. Supporting Joshua's progression into his second feature, at a larger scale and with deeper psychological complexity, is about ensuring Welsh filmmakers can grow internationally without having to leave Wales behind.
Thematically, I am personally drawn to Leopard Spots because of its exploration of mother–child relationships and the complexity of love shaped by trauma. I have my own experiences of difficult family dynamics and I am deeply interested in how fear and care can coexist within families. This is a psychological drama that feels intimate and culturally specific, yet universally recognisable. It is the kind of story that travels internationally while remaining emotionally grounded.
In 2025 I travelled to Japan with Media Cymru as part of the Wales–Japan year. That visit was not simply cultural. It was the beginning of building meaningful industry relationships on the ground. This film feels like a natural continuation of that work, and I am keen to develop long-term co-production partnerships in Japan rather than isolated collaborations.
Director's note
When I make a film, it is important to me that the emotional truth comes from personal experience. In this film my focus is on how a loved one can use manipulation and blackmail to get what they want. My mother has done this to me and my siblings, under the pretence of false love.
The lengths someone will go to delude themselves into thinking they're acting out of love are impressive. Our main character Yuri embodies this. Her actions are motivated by selfishness, and she tricks herself into thinking she's doing what she does out of love. Yuri mirrors the behaviour of her own mother too. The question is, can she break the cycle? Throughout the story she realises her flaws, but too late.
My perspective in writing this was to approach the film as if I wasn't part of my family but a fly on the wall, looking at my mother and my sister, as if it were just the two of them navigating these difficult situations on their own. So this film is really about my mother and my sister, and what I observed in their relationship. My sister is a big collaborator on this project.
Yuri goes on the same journey of self-discovery that I did over the last ten years. Who am I? Why do I act the way I do? How do my actions affect those around me that I love? What does it mean to be a parent? And how can I avoid passing down generational trauma or negative traits imprinted on me by my parents?
I have always taken great inspiration from Kore-eda's work, especially Shoplifters and Monster. The intimacy and unspoken character development and situational drama are what have influenced me most in the writing of Leopard Spots. Now I want to focus on the unspoken tensions and more subtle twists and turns that can be applied to a more intimate story.
Leopard Spots is my opportunity to take a step forward from Satu — Year of the Rabbit with less external journey, more psychological interiority. More contained, more disciplined, more confrontational emotionally.
Profile
Kingyo Films is a Nara-based production company led by Ruth Linton and Aiko Yoshioka, long-standing collaborators of Naomi Kawase. The company champions auteur-driven cinema; Their recent work has screened at San Sebastián. Kingyo is the Japanese co-producer on Leopard Spots and delivered the production on the ground in Nara Prefecture through the NARAtive programme.
On Par Productions is a multi-BAFTA Cymru-winning film and television company based in Cardiff, founded by producer Toby Cameron. Commercial and branded work funds a deliberate move into features with Welsh writers and directors. Leopard Spots is its first, built on a relationship with Japan that began during the Wales–Japan year. A feature documentary is in funded development.
Geronimo Boy Film is the company of writer-director Joshua Trigg. It produced and self-distributed his debut feature Satu — Year of the Rabbit, releasing it into UK cinemas independently after a fifty-festival run.