Busan International Film Festival has set the international premiere of Dear Stranger, the latest feature from Japanese director Tetsuya Mariko (Destruction Babies), for its 2025 edition in the “A Window on Asian Cinema” program.

Starring Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car) and Gwei Lun-Mei (Girlfriend, Boyfriend), the Japan-Taiwan-U.S. co-production was filmed entirely in New York and follows a couple whose lives fracture after the disappearance of their young son forces them to confront buried secrets.

The film reunites Mariko with top collaborators, including cinematographer Yasuyuki Sasaki (Asako I & II), editor Matthieu Laclau (A Touch of Sin), and Grammy-winning musician Jim O’Rourke. The project was shot with a multilingual cast and crew across English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and sign language.

Mariko, who won Locarno’s Best Emerging Director Award for Destruction Babies, shifts his focus from violent social critiques to an intimate immigrant drama exploring identity, family, and loss.